The farmers said the poppy straws should be excluded from the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and claimed that they are not a narcotic substance but rather the husk of the poppy plant. File | Photo Credit: Nissar Ahmad Ahead of the announcement of the opium licensing policy for 2026-27, scheduled for September, opium farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have urged the Union Government to formulate it in a manner that benefits the country and farmers. At a protest meeting in Jantar Mantar here on Monday (August 17, 2026), under the banner of Bharatiya Afeem Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, the licensee farmers said the number of opium licenses for medicinal opium cultivation should be increased, and the price of opium procured by the Government should be hiked to ₹1,00,000 per kg for farmers, in line with the international market price. The farmers said in a representation to the Government that the opium leases that have been cancelled since 1990 should be reinstated, so that the cultivation of opium, which has increased significantly since …