Opium poppies, such as the Tasmanian poppies pictured here, are prized for the valuable drugs they produce. Scientists have long known how the plants make opiates, such as codeine and morphine, but the molecular steps for making a nonaddictive substance called noscapine have been a mystery until now. Noscapine is a cough suppressant that is also used as an antitumor drug.
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