Poppies replace tourists in Egypt's Sinai desert
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middl...s-Sinai-desert
"Mohamed and his companions are nervous. The poppy field they have tended for the past six months is almost ready for harvesting, the small, bright flowers waving in the breeze. Inside the plant's pod is a sticky-white substance: raw opium. When harvested it will net each of them $2,850.
But Egypt is trying to stamp out the budding opium trade in the Sinai Peninsula, and that morning, the Army blocked the field's access road, only leaving as the day neared sunset.
"Normally there are two weeks left to the harvest. But we are not taking any chances. We are harvesting everything right now, and we're not leaving any evidence behind," says Mohamed, squatting in the desert sand as the others cut the pods for sap before hacking away at the plants....."
Oh, well.
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