Although Milk of Paradise is presented as a “history of opium” in its subtitle, there is more to it than just the history of the latex of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Rather ...

In April 2022, Afghanistan’s de-facto authorities banned all cultivation of opium poppy under strict new laws. Opium is the essential ingredient for manufacturing the street drug heroin ...

The price of opium in Afghanistan surged to $750 per kilogram in 2024, a tenfold increase compared to two years prior, ...

Displaced and desperate - Myanmar's opium production was previously second only to Afghanistan, where poppy farming flourished following the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11 ...

Scraping opium resin off a seedpod in Myanmar’s remote poppy fields, displaced farmer Aung Hla describes the narcotic crop as his only prospect in a country made barren by conflict. The 35-year ...

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have succeeded in slashing opium poppy production in the country after banning cultivation of the crop, analysis of satellite imagery and reports from the ground ...

poppy cultivation has practically come to a standstill. For the first time in decades, Myanmar has replaced Afghanistan as the world's largest opium and heroin producer. It would be natural to ...