Heroin and cocaine

[jimess]

Why don't scientists or geneticists work on these plants in the lab to alter the make up of the plant - then reintroduce the genetically altered strain into the 'wild' and thereby solve all the West's drug addiction problems?

[Laurinha]

Do you mean so that the plants no longer have the desired effects or so that we can all help ourselves freely? 

[brachiopod]

Vested interests.

[MORELLO]

For similar reasons that we sell weapons of war to those likely to use them on ourselves or our allies. As brachiopod says, 'vested interests'.

[jimess]

Hmmm I'm personally not much of a conspiracy theorist. I've just often wondered why it can't be done. I mean the US DEA has a colossal budget that it spends year after year in trying to block the traffic into the states. It's not working. Why not spend all those millions on research into altering the plants genetic make up to render it harmless? We could do the same thing with rap music artists. (Something else that gets up my nose)

[nigidivitch]

Eh? Genetically alter rap artists so they stop making rap music - and start making.. errm, what?  Country music?  I think that's called inbreeding!

[ursula62]

probably because these plants are harvested for medicinal purposes as well.

And why, if we don't want "frankenstein foods", would we want frankenstein drug plants?

[theren_911]

and of course all the shady growers of this plant would refrain from growing the original un-mutated seeds :)

Maybe mix in a bit of Trifid and let them hunt down the original plants...

[joko]

because most of these drugs are grown and harvested on private land by the drug dealers themselves. the areas where it grows wild are probably only known about by locals for their own use.

besides it would take years and years to perfect the technique and many, many more to put into practice and even then unlikely to succeed to any great solution

[joko]

also how will putting genetically engineered plants alongside the normal ones, stop the normal ones?

or did you mean dig up every single plant in the world and alter it individually in the lab...?

[jimess]

I just had the vague notion that they could introduce some kind of 'strain' into the plant that would propagate itself throughout adjacent plants to nullify their narcotic effect ....or something (he added lamely)