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Where does it come from?
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Most of the heroin used in the UK comes from the mountains around the borders of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Opium poppies grow best in dry, warm climates, and they are mostly grown in these areas by farmers with small plots of land. The sap is collected by the farmer, then it's bought by a merchant or broker who takes the opium to a morphine refinery. The opium is refined into morphine base and then reacted with acetic anhydride, a chemical also used in the production of aspirin. Most black market heroin is highly impure due to contaminants left after refinement of opium into morphine, which then remain in the final product. |
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