But how do we know this isn’t a plant disease that has afflicted Opium poppies in the past?
I recall from the Smithsonian’s 1993 Seeds of Change exhibit that the potato blight was especially devastating because Ireland’s potato economy was based on barely two strains of the plant so one disease could wipe them all out. Could it be that Opium has become similarly inbred?
Could be. But opium is an old crop, and probably available in several strains.
“Could it be that Opium has become similarly inbred?”
Like the people that grow it.