The industry
With an annual average crop yield of around 2.5 tonnes per hectare, Tasmania supplies about half of the world's medicinal opiate market.
The Australian industry is based on the processing of dry poppy plant material - poppy straw - principally for the production of codeine and thebaine.
Opiate alkaloids are extracted from the dry capsules of the mature poppy plant Papaver somniferum and up to 15 cm (six inches) of the upper stem.
The seeds, which are free of opiates, are not used in the extraction process. After separation from the poppy straw, they are cleaned, graded and bagged for export.
As well as cultivation and initial processing, much of the extraction of medicinal products is undertaken in Tasmania. Some manufacturing is also undertaken in the neighbouring state of Victoria.
The Australian industry's strong commitment to research and development has been enhanced by highly sophisticated agricultural and chemical processing techniques, with evident success.
Tasmania is considered the world's most efficient producer of poppies with the highest yield per hectare of any opiate-producing country.