The poppy plant, also known as “Amapola” in Mexico, plays a significant role in the production of various potent drugs. The cultivation of Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, has a long history dating back thousands of years. The plant’s sap contains alkaloids like morphine and codeine, which have powerful pain-relieving properties.
When the poppy pods are scored, they exude a milky latex that, once dried, becomes raw opium. This raw opium can be processed further to extract morphine, which serves as a critical precursor for synthesizing heroin. The transformation from opium to morphine and then to heroin involves a series of chemical reactions that ultimately result in a highly addictive substance.
While these drugs have legitimate medical applications, particularly morphine for pain management, their potential for abuse and addiction has led to widespread misuse. The illicit production and distribution of heroin have severe social and health consequences, making the regulation of poppy cultivation and drug manufacturing a significant global issue.
On February 12, the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) reported on the location and destruction of seven poppy plantations in an area of 31,100 square meters (7.7 acres), in the Mexican state of Nayarit.
It was in the municipality of Del Nayar that elements of the Navy (Semar) carried out the seizure of the plantations, the uniformed officers went to the town of Las Guacamayas and found around 703 thousand poppy plants after intelligence work, according to the institution in charge of Omar García Harfuch.
Since September 2023, the date on which security agents found facilities for the creation of drugs in the municipality of Rosamorada, near the town of San Juan Bautista, no seizures of that caliber had been carried out in the state.
Source: INFOBAE
