Two Metro Vancouver men have been charged in connection with the largest opium field ever found in Canada.
RCMP in Chilliwack spotted the nearly three-hectare field in late August in a rural area of the Fraser Valley community, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver.
Investigators believe the estimated 60,000 poppy plants were to be used to produce doda, an addictive powder made from crushed poppy pods.
Doda, usually consumed as a tea, creates a quick, energy-producing high, and police say it is increasingly popular across Metro Vancouver, with the Chilliwack crop estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mounties say 31-year-old Tehal Singh Bath of Abbotsford and 24-year-old Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal of Mission have now been charged with production of a controlled substance and production for the purpose of trafficking.
Bath and Dhaliwal are due to return to court in Chilliwack on Jan. 27.
