Dear Colleagues I am putting together a special extended program or 5 of 6 session on the topic of opium poppy for AAG2010. The program will be sponsored by several Specialty Groups and follow five general themes: * Poppy and geotechnologies (GIS, remote sensing, crop prediction). * Poppy and conflict (Afghanistan, Asia, the Americas, funding for terrorism and insurgency, security and poppy cultivation) * Poppy, farming systems and rural livelihoods (legal, illegal, drug, food, industrial crop) * Poppy and business (industry, agribusiness, illegal drugs, the 19 legal poppy-growing countries, the dozen or so countries where illegal poppy is found ) * Poppy and culture (kitchen, garden, art, perfume) Within those general themes there are many fascinating possibilities to explore. I would like to include papers, posters and films that examine poppy "The good evil" and the ways that poppy is intertwined in our lives and the lives of countless rural people of the world. Papers with some type of spatial analysis with maps and of an applied nature will be considered for publication in International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR). If enough papers are received, a special edition of IJAGR is possible. I am also talking to the editors of other geographic journals about organizing a special topics issue. Please contact me for more information. Also see the web site to see this year's horticulture of poppy conference being held in mid-September. Regards Allison Brown Independent Geographer Horticulture Department University of Massachusetts, Amherst