Kathy Bly
SOUTHERN ALBERTA NEWSPAPERS
An Alberta-based company, seeking to capture the Canadian market for pain medication derived from poppies, is aiming to have seed in the ground come spring.
In a presentation to the County of Lethbridge Council this week, Glen Metzler of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Labs Inc., said the company has purchased 40 acres in the east part of the county in order to conduct field trials in the spring of 2012.
"No one's ever grown poppies before."
API has been working with the University of Lethbridge on the research end of the Thebaine Poppy Project, which seeks to create a Canadian source for thebaine, which is used in pain medication and is derived from poppy alkaloids found in the straw of the poppy crop.
Metzler said the Office of Controlled Substances, Health Canada is currently conducting a risk/threat assessment for the proposed field trials and as part of the due diligence process the company is required to address the project with key groups such as the County.
The alkaloids found in the Thebaine poppy can be processed into pain medication but in their plant form this type of poppy is not considered a controlled substance. API Labs Inc. has developed a business concept focused on replacing the current imported supply of thebaine with a Canadian grown source.
In 2009, Canada's annual retail sales of medication derived from poppies was valued at $565 million. Canada is the only G8 country that does not cultivate poppies or process narcotic raw materials into pharmaceutical ingredients for medical use. In May of this year, the company received its first licence and has been focused on the research phase through the university.
Metzler said the crop would actually provide a two-fold benefit, the thebaine and locally grown poppy seeds. Currently, North America imports all of its poppy seed, a $50-million-plus market every year. Of the 27 countries that grow poppies around the world, only Australia grows the crop under irrigation. For southern Alberta, the poppies represent a cash crop with returns five to seven times higher per acre than traditional crops.
He said southern Alberta is an ideal location to grow the poppies. The poppies also have a potential future market as an oil seed product.
"The value is there."
Metzler said, unlike the morphine poppy, the thebaine poppy cannot be converted into heroin. In the field, the thebaine poppies are benign and only through comprehensive processing can the poppy straw be converted into a controlled narcotic substance.
His presentation met with support from County Council which agreed to provide a letter of support to the company for the project.
"I'm glad you want to locate in the county," said Coun. John Willms, who also encouraged the company to consider setting up its processing facility in the county.
Metzler said the company is working on a seven to 10-year time line and once fully operational there is the potential for about 300 jobs associated with the processing facility which will have a five-hectare footprint.
He added two issues - access to utilities and security - will have be addressed when securing a site for the processing plant.
Locally the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce has already come out in support of the project along with its federal counterpart, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.