\As a scientist and environmentalist, I applaud this team for this breakthrough achievement, and hope that it doesn't follow the fate of Frankenstein's Adam.
P. Somniferum is a labor-intensive crop with high costs of cultivation and refinement (morphinans are very sensitive and degrade easily, and thus must be extracted & purified using advanced and expensive chemical methodologies) notorious for poor yields of morphinan alkaloids & semisynthetic derivatives thereof (e.g. morphine, oxycodone, heroin, etc.), the most common family of opioid-ergic drugs used in the entire world, and thus must be grown on large tracts of land with hefty investments and resource consumption. Ultimately, P. Somniferum cultivation will rapidly become an unsustainable practice of producing enough opioids in order to meet global demand.
In otto Snow's book, Oxy, he notes that the impressive amount of resources needed to sustain ever-increasing demand from the Medical industry. Although specific strains of poppies have been engineered to produce higher content of X morphinan via playing with the genes responsible for dictating the enzymes needed for their biosynthesis at a crucial step (e.g. Thebaine or Morphine), low yields endemic to P. Somniferum and increasing demand may pose a massive threat to global demand for these medicines.
A significant amount of these prescribed opioids (with well over half of all prescriptions being written for patients with pre-existing psychiatric illnesses), commonly prescribed in the practice of chronic pain management--an illness which is rising at a breakneck speed alongside a rapidly escalating rate of opioid abuse, addiction and fatal overdoses.
A semi-synthetic derivative of Thebaine (morphinan endemic to P. Somniferum from which most semisynthetic morphinans, such as oxycodone and heroin, are derived from), buprenorphine is commonly prescribed to this ever-expanding armada of opiate addicts, many of whom began their addiction via abuse of prescription opioids prescribed to others. Due to increased stigma in Medical practice against prescribing opioids, alongside increasing black market prices for these prescription opioids, an ever-expanding armada of addicts have turned to street heroin to afford their 'fix'.
Methadone use for opioid addiction maintenance therapy is decreasing whilst buprenorphine preparation prescriptions are increasing as pharmaceutical drug reps persuade doctors to use novel formulations of the drug which are protected under patent law, and thus much more profitable. Kratom use for opioid addiction is relatively unheard of among many addicts, and can pose risks in patients with a broad spectrum of illnesses (e.g. hep C, compromised hepatic function, renal failure, allergies, etc.). This rise in the rate of patients on buprenorphine therapy further stresses demand for Morphinans, further stressing demand for P. Somniferum cultivation.
By using microorganisms to manufacture morphinan alkaloids, this ecological crisis may be averted. Manipulating the genomes of organisms with short life cycles to produce these alkaloids is environmentally friendly, and is the most logical step IMO to solving this crisis. Although it certainly isn't a cure for the rapidly growing demand for morphinan opioid-ergics, it may serve as a means of treating the looming ecological and economic crises surrounding the increased demand for P. Somniferum cultivation for pharmaceutical opioids.
'"ALAS,"said the mouse, "the world is growing smaller every day. At the
beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad
when at last I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have
narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner
stands the trap that I must run into." "You only need to change your direction," said
the cat, and ate it up.' --Franz Kafka