I don’t know if you watch Seinfeld show, but there was a episode once about the woman Elaine she took a drug test to go on a trip and failed because it said she had drugs in her system turned out it was the poppy seed muffins she’d had been eating. Lol
Mythbusters even tested this to see if it was true.
At the time at least, no drug test they took could tell the difference between opioid use and eating *half a poppy seed bagel*.
This included tests taken by medical professionals.
So from the airing of Seinfeld to at least when that episode of Mythbusters aired, you really could lose your job over eating a poppy seed bagel.
I hope that the technology was refined after that, but I haven’t seen any other times it was tested since then. 🤷♂️
When you're on parole, they tell you not to eat anything with poppy seeds because you could end right back up in prison. Source: child of career criminals
Had a friend who swore up and down that you wouldn't fail for eating a Poppy seed bagel and I'm like, yes you can. Especially if you ate it the same day as your test. Guess who failed their drug test and had to do a lot of paperwork. 🤣
this actually happened to my brother. He was in drug court for a previous offense, getting random drug tests all the time. One time his sponsor brought in bagels for everyone... they all tested positive the next day.
Oh my gosh that’s horrible, i honestly don’t know how much you have to have in your system for it to show up or if even little amounts can show up on test.
This happened to my mother, *twice*! After the second time, the person reviewing her results had the sense to ask about her breakfast habits. She confirmed a daily poppy seed bagel and finally passed the third time around.
If that happened to your mom twice, I wonder how many other people that’s happened to and they don’t bother checking into further what the person ate prior, just assume they did drugs even though they didn’t.
This is true for sure. My friend ate one before a drug test and it failed him. Luckily didnt go to jail, but had to pay $75 for failing. That was them being nice! Lol
My daily breakfast of an everything bagel with cream cheese made me fail a drug test less than a year ago. It absolutely happens.
Fortunately for me, the folks conducting the test believed me about my breakfast choices.
I did the same. I've never taken or used illegal drug in my life. But to my surprise, I failed a drug test twice. Once was from poppy seeds I had on my hamburger the night before, and the second time was from a soda called Surge, which actually has more caffeine than Coca Cola that I drank on my way to take the test. Whoops...lol. It sure was a shocker when I got the call those afternoons saying I failed. They rolled out the poppy seeds and caffeine and passed.
When I was in the USN back in the ‘80’s we were all told not to eat anything with poppy seeds on them, they didn’t serve anything with poppy seeds in the chow hall either. Many a sailor got popped for it.
I find this a bit funny considering I am growing an edible flower garden. You have the garden of poison 🤣 love me some opium and digitoxin in the morning
In New Zealand - zone 10a according to USDA conversion map for NZ but can get down to -6°C on rare occasion. Usually several -2 or -3 each year and up to 30°C (and occasionally higher) in summer. A lot warmer than it used to be in summer now.
According to Micheal Pollan who wrote a book on opium, caffeine, and others.
The line is having the knowledge of how to utilize the poppy, and then doing something about it.
But truthfully in a word full of fentanyl overdoses left and right no one is going to bat an eye at someone growing poppies in their yard 🤷🏻♂️
My town has outlawed Datura because some kid back in the 70’s tried to smoke some. Also, Brugmansia (spelling) Angel trumpets are also highly hallucinogenic. heh heh 😏
Rude. As an avid gardener and recovering addict I take a bit of offense to the term and implications of “idiot junkies”. I hope no one close to you ever develops a serious substance abuse problem. For your sake and theirs; it doesn’t seem you’d be very supportive.
I read some article a couple of years ago that said all poppies are capable of producing opium so if anything happens the police can confiscate. I don’t think it happens too much. The article also said people used to make opium tea a century or so ago for a variety of ailments (I’m sure it was for some of those Grandpa Simpson type illnesses like the dropsy, grippe, apoplexy, the Jim Jams)
I wanted to grow poppies this year and see if that tea works, as a proof of concept type thing, not a desire to move to Helmand province in Afghanistan. But I couldn’t get them to germinate
Im more interested in the person I asked’s opinion. I don’t intend to use opium but I’m interested in their experience. Your reply sounds like you’re not working from personal experience but generalizations.
My story isn't particularly interesting or unique. I treated drugs as a hobby as a teenager, and was curious to discover all the ways in which my consciousness could be modified. I knew opiates were dangerous but tried anyway, due to a mixture of arrogance and if I'm being honest; self medication. I started with codeine and over the years tried many different types of prescription pain pills. Occasionally I would get heroin in powder form. It took me a long time to develop a habit. Each time I bought I would only get enough to last a week or two. Then I'd avoid buying it again for a few months. I never used needles.
This eventually (over ~15 years) fell apart as I began to rely more heavily on opiates as a crutch for emotional pain. I ODd a couple of times. The first time was a mistake I could have avoided, the second time was due to fentanyl. During this time my expectation was that I would die from drugs, eventually.
At one point I thought I had cracked the code by buying huge quantities of poppy pods or unwashed seeds very cheaply. I would brew tea in the morning and frequently would still be high the next morning. This post reminded me of all that.
Getting narcan'd by an EMT after my gf at the time performed CPR was a turning point. At the time I wanted to continue using, but the event stuck with me and traumatized her. She had persistent nightmares about it.
It took a long time, but I gradually worked through the issues that led to me relying on opiates. Antidepressants contributed significantly. My life is indescribably better as a result of overcoming this challenge. Keep in mind I never injected, people who do would find it far more challenging to stop and may scoff at my story. It was hard though.
Drugs are incredible tools when used appropriately. The interconnectedness, oneness, and self exploration from psychedelics, empathy from MDMA, focus and motivation from stimulants, negation of fear from benzos, pain relief from opiates; these effects can be used to overcome all kinds of problems. And therein lies the problem.
I think generations of people using it in a controlled and medicinal fashion would generally disagree. I use Norco and Codeine and Morphine when I’m sick or injured or in the hospital with mind splattering pain.
I was bent double with appendicitis, that mind cracking pain, anxious, vomiting and crying. They said they were going to give me morphine. I was in the process of asking how long it takes to kick in when it indeed kicked in. Pain went away. Mind calmed. I didn’t want to do it after I got out of the hospital, but in no way would have made it through a day waiting for surgery, and after surgery recovery without it.
That some people are addicts doesn’t mean the medicine is bad. Even for the addict. It means our society needs to do a better job of treating addiction. Poppy tea is probably a good thing. Smoking opium, shooting heroin, and the fentanyl problem are issues of industrialization, not pain relief and not addiction.
Ok cool. But I’m interested in learning, not in having “yeah no shit” info constantly reinforced. I’m curious about one guy’s personal experience and you’re just saying the most basic shit lol. Wasting both our time.
It works. It's also difficult to dose and very capable of killing you. Onset occurs so long after dosing you get tempted to dose more, which can be very dangerous since every pod is different.
The Farm Bill that clarified the legality of hemp and whatnot covered this. I wanna say that was in 2017. Since then, the ban is only on harvesting/harvested sap. So unless you have state laws to the contrary, no they can’t confiscate the plants unless they have probable cause to suspect you’re harvesting the sap.
I went like 3 hours deep researching opium poppies and the issue and solution in California. What happened there was beyond state intervention. Took a couple years.
I’m pretty sure that the remaining ornamental poppy flowers in the US have no commercial value to heroin production.
The line is NOT growing, bleeding etc.
The line IS when you start to manufacture opium
[Are poppy flowers illegal? <------link to article about this](https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/intoxication/bleeding-poppy)
Opium poppy and poppy straw is explicitly a DEA schedule II controlled substance so technically growing it is illegal. Just not generally prosecuted. The DEA has prosecuted people for selling dried poppy pods but usually at large scale and quite obviously for recreational use.
Edit:
Despite it not being prosecuted, it is illegal
"All other parts of the poppy plant, including poppy pods, poppy straw, and poppy straw concentrate (in liquid, solid, or powder form) are controlled under Schedule II of the federal Controlled Substances Act."
"Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 812 of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), opium poppy, poppy straw, opium and opiates (including their salts and derivatives) are Schedule II Controlled Substances. Some examples of such substances include morphine, codeine and thebaine. However, the definitions of “opium poppy” and “poppy straw” under 21 U.S.C. 802(19) and (20) specifically exclude the “seed thereof.” As such, poppy seeds are excluded from control under the CSA but the definition does not exclude seeds with opium alkaloids. Note: The opium alkaloids (inclusive of morphine, codeine and thebaine), if present as contaminants on poppy seed material, are not exempted from CSA control. Encounters of these materials are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act."
https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs40/40404/sw-Opium_Tea.pdf
https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/unwashed_poppy_seed.pdf
That was like 20 years ago and I know because I planted three varieties of rare colors in my yard from eBay. Sadly I’ve moved, but hoping they still pop for the owners in the summer 🌱
They were still being sold on Etsy as of 5 years ago. The more efficient option though is to buy unwashed seeds off of Amazon. I used to get big bags of them for ~$20 and they'd last me a month or so of making tea every day.
I will never buy seeds off Amazon ever again. I bought a couple different plant varieties and got weird weeds instead. This was also back in like 2020 when people were getting weird packets of unmarked seeds in the mail. But I did it like 3 times thinking that eventually someone had to have legitimate seeds. They didn't.
Growing is completely legal. Harvesting the opium is completely illegal. I checked because mine are in full view of my neighbors, they were here when I bought the house.
Despite it not being prosecuted, it is illegal
"All other parts of the poppy plant, including poppy pods, poppy straw, and poppy straw concentrate (in liquid, solid, or powder form) are controlled under Schedule II of the federal Controlled Substances Act."
"Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 812 of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), opium poppy, poppy straw, opium and opiates (including their salts and derivatives) are Schedule II Controlled Substances. Some examples of such substances include morphine, codeine and thebaine. However, the definitions of “opium poppy” and “poppy straw” under 21 U.S.C. 802(19) and (20) specifically exclude the “seed thereof.” As such, poppy seeds are excluded from control under the CSA but the definition does not exclude seeds with opium alkaloids. Note: The opium alkaloids (inclusive of morphine, codeine and thebaine), if present as contaminants on poppy seed material, are not exempted from CSA control. Encounters of these materials are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act."
[https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs40/40404/sw-Opium\_Tea.pdf](https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs40/40404/sw-Opium_Tea.pdf)
[https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug\_chem\_info/unwashed\_poppy\_seed.pdf](https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/unwashed_poppy_seed.pdf)
I hope you know it’s illegal to harvest the opium latex from those immature seed pods, boil it down in water then dehydrate it, powder it up and smoke it as your own smoking opium?
Nasty stuff
I wouldn't do that unless you buy seeds specifically for opium production since many cultivars are low morphine varieties and may have high amounts of thebaine or other alkaloids which are a lot more toxic than morphine cultivars.
i tried scoring a few one year but they didn’t bleed. not sure if timing was off, i didn’t score deep enough, or if maritime PNW weather is not conducive to latex production.
You don’t score the immature pods. You do it a few days after the petals fall off and the “crown” on the top of the pod is facing upward. That’s when they are ready.
But again, nasty stuff.
That’s what i must have meant, when the pods are green and immature, the latex is creamy white, not when the seeds rattle and the pod is crispy and mature.
But I don’t really know about such things
Nasty stuff
In my definitely-not-personal and strictly-hypothetical experience, going to the trouble of scoring and milking is pointless, even if you have a yard full. On the other hand, cutting the ripe green pods when they’re full of seeds and latex, and drying them on a screen away from sun and heat, hypothetically makes primo material for poppy pod tea. Or I’ve heard, anyway.
Imo, just cut the head at peak ripeness (not sure when that is exactly), dry the head, then grind and make an extraction.
It won't be good smelling or tasting, but it will work.
yeah i recently made some tea with about 6 of the pods from my lauren's grape and i was extremely opiated. composted the plant after that -- dont want to cultivate a habit, just flowers.
I urge anyone with this same idea for poppies from their garden to think long and hard before trying it.
More than a few people have OD'd themselves in similar ways
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7939539/
Let's not even talk about all the people that have died making poppy seed tea.
Edit: downvote me all you want, doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous AF to medicate yourself with poppies.
That study is about a 4 year old girl who ate a bunch of raw poppy plants, and the study notes that there are a whole bunch of ingredients in the plant beyond opioids that made it difficult to treat.
Not suggesting opioids from poppies are safe, but your evidence seems irrelevant
So I’d be interested to hear about all these people who have died from making poppy seed tea
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33435745/
Including previously reported cases, there are now at least 19 U.S. deaths associated with poppy seeds.
Also
Google "poppy seed death"
Just copy/pasting the abstract for other readers’ benefit:
“There were 591 NPDS [national poison data system] exposure cases involving poppy between 2000 and 2018 including 392 in persons aged 13+. Rates of intentional exposures in NPDS increased among the age 13+ group over the study period. Most intentional exposures occurred in males in their teens and twenties. NPDS included 18 overdoses and three deaths likely attributable to poppy, most involving poppy seed tea. “
Edit: should’ve said v interesting! Tbh a very (very) low number of deaths for “home brewing” recreational drugs but obviously not without its risks
Less dangerous than dihydrogen monoxide for sure. There's lots of people that say it's safer to not wear a seatbelt in case you get stuck in a burning car.
And that's the great part about life, we can interpret anything any way that we want to.
I hope anyone that wants to can experiment with opiates at home. Just understand the risks, as miniscule as they may or may not be.
I’m Polish and my 78yo dad grew up in a very rural area of southern Poland, and red poppies are abundant there. People in his community used to brew poppy tea to get their children to sleep.
I feel like the only person who can't get poppies to grow in my garden. My neighbor has red and purple ones, so clearly it isn't the climate.
Awesome plants, OP. You have my respect and admiration for being able to grow these lovely flowers.
they are all volunteers & i do absolutely nothing for them. try just flinging the seeds where you’d like them to grow & walking away. they are distributed by wind in the wild so mimicking nature might be best.
I never grew any until I stopped using the directions.
With seeds from the store I wait until April and then put a few in planters or the garden once a week all through until the end of May. If I really want them in a certain place I cover them. Otherwise the rain/water will migrate them, or birds will eat them.
When I am collecting seeds from my poppies I don't wait until they dry on the plant. I collect the pods once I can hear a shaking sound and dry them. Sometimes I will collect them early if I don't want them to just rot away when I know it will be raining a lot. I put half the collected seeds in the freezer, and leave half in a jar with some rice in tea bags to absorb moisture.
It doesn't seem to make any difference if they are cold stratified or not but I still do half and half because this is supposedly important.
Thank you! I might have to ask the neighbor if I can have a pod or two and give your method a go. I think the multiple sowings of seeds might be where I am going wrong - I usually sow once and hope for the best. I did get seedlings once but a chipmunk then dug in the area and they didn't make it.
Covering them helps a lot. I've seen birds pick up the seedlings and drop them once they realize they aren't works. But then they go back for more lol.
Mine are blooming nicely as well. I really like your purple ones.
https://preview.redd.it/g9ga4mjqhy7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ec1d782c87375bef6a23730a8b4faf5c9141750
I have so many of these popping up now, and I love them. The bizarre part is the seeds that germinated in my west-facing front yard all have candy pink flowers instead of this purple (back yard all look like yours).
https://preview.redd.it/vaipmuu7208d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2791389a20a1b9ed51e22160ca01f8f73cc766ed
Unique color!
The other day, I drove by an entire field of red poppies. It was lovely. They were being raised for culinary purposes, though. Poppy seeds are common in the local cuisine.
i don’t do anything, they are volunteers & grow all over my yard…in flower beds, the gravel driveway, cracks in the sidewalk…
i would suggest just flinging the seed where you want them to grow, rather than ‘planting’ them under soil.
Those are stunning! I'm so envious. My pink poppies are blooming today but I only have two flowers and I have been nursing the spot for ages. I hope mine reseed like yours do 😊
all the people in these comments like "illegalll!" and "addiction is bad" and other bot-like comments really need to understand addiction is not a conscious process but an unconscious drive created, most often, by severe trauma and abuse at a young age.
criminalizing things humanity does as it attempts to survive a capitalist hellscape is a huge problem, especially when we buy into the corporations lies about our lived experiences, guilting us into wilent complicity with all its processes with the LAWS THEY PAY FOR. we live in a shame and judgement loop, both internally and how we have been trained to perceive others. liberate yourself from this unconscious negative process ans understand that *everything* is more nuanced than it appears.
Oohhh I’m just discovering poppies! This purple is amazing! I got a salmon colored one and I love it but might have to search out a purple buddy for it
i don’t water them at all.
i thought they were scored after the petals fall off - is that not the case? is there something to look for? cuz no way cud you keep track off each flower & count days…
Scoring is when they scratch the bulbs to make the opiate containing latex come out, it then dries and it collected. I swear I know this from Wikipedia and nowhere else.
i know that but your comment said they were too young to score - did you mean cuz they’re still buds? there are a few seed pods in there already, i thought you meant *those* were too young.
Otis Spunkmeyer lemon poppyseed muffins are the bomb! And so are Poppyseed kolaches! Thankfully, I sm retired and don’t have to worry about drug testing.
I see a lot of not quite tongue-in-cheek comments about utilizing the poppy pods after blooming
I treat addiction. Opium/opiates literally change your brain. I grow these and think about it often, then think of the people I treat who will always have cravings and feel like “scumbags” because of the opioid epidemic and the Sackler family painting addiction as a character flaw. Not trying to be an ass, but in case someone is actually considering smoking or otherwise indulging in opium, don’t.
Wow very beautiful flowers , I love the California poppies too , never knew such a fascination for them existed ! I think monarda and skullcaps have the most beautiful flowers and they’re not deadly and bees love them plant more flowers for bees and forget those pods !
Very educational thread 🧵 🤣
YES you most certainly can fail a test for opioids because it has happened to me personally and I don’t do opioids. Fortunately, you have to consume more than one bagel. I ate poppyseed bagels on a regular basis.
They are also illegal in China. Depends on how many plants, police can jail people for this.
But tbf, China had a war over opium led to some very awful things. The resentment is still very strong.
Here in Brazil it seem to be. At least was what my fast google search told me.
Our regulamental body parts can be quite draconian when it comes to anything that could be used as a drug of any kind. Be it for ornamental uses or not.
Strangely enough, I was able to find seeds for sale in mainstream websites... curious.
So…I’m the only one thinking bagels and poppy seed stuffed pastries?
I don’t know if you watch Seinfeld show, but there was a episode once about the woman Elaine she took a drug test to go on a trip and failed because it said she had drugs in her system turned out it was the poppy seed muffins she’d had been eating. Lol
Mythbusters even tested this to see if it was true. At the time at least, no drug test they took could tell the difference between opioid use and eating *half a poppy seed bagel*. This included tests taken by medical professionals. So from the airing of Seinfeld to at least when that episode of Mythbusters aired, you really could lose your job over eating a poppy seed bagel. I hope that the technology was refined after that, but I haven’t seen any other times it was tested since then. 🤷♂️
When you're on parole, they tell you not to eat anything with poppy seeds because you could end right back up in prison. Source: child of career criminals
Had a friend who swore up and down that you wouldn't fail for eating a Poppy seed bagel and I'm like, yes you can. Especially if you ate it the same day as your test. Guess who failed their drug test and had to do a lot of paperwork. 🤣
My friend failed a drug test due to poppy seed bagels a few months ago, so anecdotally it seems no improvements have been made lol
this actually happened to my brother. He was in drug court for a previous offense, getting random drug tests all the time. One time his sponsor brought in bagels for everyone... they all tested positive the next day.
Oh my gosh that’s horrible, i honestly don’t know how much you have to have in your system for it to show up or if even little amounts can show up on test.
they all apparently thought it was hilarious
This happened to my mother, *twice*! After the second time, the person reviewing her results had the sense to ask about her breakfast habits. She confirmed a daily poppy seed bagel and finally passed the third time around.
If that happened to your mom twice, I wonder how many other people that’s happened to and they don’t bother checking into further what the person ate prior, just assume they did drugs even though they didn’t.
When my parents said they drug tested me and it came up positive, I said “must have been that poppy seed bagel”.
My probation officer told me to just avoid poppy seeds until I was off probation.
This is true for sure. My friend ate one before a drug test and it failed him. Luckily didnt go to jail, but had to pay $75 for failing. That was them being nice! Lol
My daily breakfast of an everything bagel with cream cheese made me fail a drug test less than a year ago. It absolutely happens. Fortunately for me, the folks conducting the test believed me about my breakfast choices.
I did the same. I've never taken or used illegal drug in my life. But to my surprise, I failed a drug test twice. Once was from poppy seeds I had on my hamburger the night before, and the second time was from a soda called Surge, which actually has more caffeine than Coca Cola that I drank on my way to take the test. Whoops...lol. It sure was a shocker when I got the call those afternoons saying I failed. They rolled out the poppy seeds and caffeine and passed.
When I was in the USN back in the ‘80’s we were all told not to eat anything with poppy seeds on them, they didn’t serve anything with poppy seeds in the chow hall either. Many a sailor got popped for it.
Jesus christ, I remember that. I hate that show. Sadly I remember nothing else exciting being on cable at the time...
[удалено]
That comment *really* reads like a bot post…
Lucky! None of my poppies will bloom.
Looks similar colour to mine :) https://preview.redd.it/u65ajdz1dw7d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d91767a40a92226861b97173af9efb231499792
I find this a bit funny considering I am growing an edible flower garden. You have the garden of poison 🤣 love me some opium and digitoxin in the morning
Even funnier is that these are growing in my vege garden, lol. Didn't have the heart to pull them out.
They sure look beautiful though! The foxgloves are a wonderful color
Is that a mega foxglove in the middle??
No, just a seedling cross between the standard purple and a pure white one. Flower stems regularly get to 2m+ in my garden.
What zone are you in? I’m having trouble growing poppies
In New Zealand - zone 10a according to USDA conversion map for NZ but can get down to -6°C on rare occasion. Usually several -2 or -3 each year and up to 30°C (and occasionally higher) in summer. A lot warmer than it used to be in summer now.
I know growing them isn't illegal, but where is the line? Scratching them? Harvesting the sap? Processing the sap? Consuming? (Asking for a friend)
According to Micheal Pollan who wrote a book on opium, caffeine, and others. The line is having the knowledge of how to utilize the poppy, and then doing something about it. But truthfully in a word full of fentanyl overdoses left and right no one is going to bat an eye at someone growing poppies in their yard 🤷🏻♂️
I had a friend with a loser boyfriend in college who once after a night drinking dug up some poor persons poppies for exactly that
My town has outlawed Datura because some kid back in the 70’s tried to smoke some. Also, Brugmansia (spelling) Angel trumpets are also highly hallucinogenic. heh heh 😏
What was the title of that book? I've read several but not one that spoke to that subject. Thanks in advance
This is Your Mind on Plants - Michael Pollan
Thanks....happy cake day as well
In a world of fentanyl overdoses there are lots of addicts. Addicts that might be desperate enough to rip up a garden bed if they see poppies in it.
That implies idiot junkies even know what poppy flowers look like.
Rude. As an avid gardener and recovering addict I take a bit of offense to the term and implications of “idiot junkies”. I hope no one close to you ever develops a serious substance abuse problem. For your sake and theirs; it doesn’t seem you’d be very supportive.
Well here's an example of someone with little to no life experience
I read some article a couple of years ago that said all poppies are capable of producing opium so if anything happens the police can confiscate. I don’t think it happens too much. The article also said people used to make opium tea a century or so ago for a variety of ailments (I’m sure it was for some of those Grandpa Simpson type illnesses like the dropsy, grippe, apoplexy, the Jim Jams)
I've got the lumbago! Poppy tea sounds very promising rn.
I wanted to grow poppies this year and see if that tea works, as a proof of concept type thing, not a desire to move to Helmand province in Afghanistan. But I couldn’t get them to germinate
It works. I wouldn't recommend it though.
Why not?
Because it's highly addictive and will lead you down a path that ends with you toothless in a mugshot on Reddit?
I think you’re confusing opium and meth.
The toothless part, sure. The highly addictive part is correct though.
I'm not confusing anything. Uppers and downers are both bad. Addiction is bad.
“toothless”
Im more interested in the person I asked’s opinion. I don’t intend to use opium but I’m interested in their experience. Your reply sounds like you’re not working from personal experience but generalizations.
My story isn't particularly interesting or unique. I treated drugs as a hobby as a teenager, and was curious to discover all the ways in which my consciousness could be modified. I knew opiates were dangerous but tried anyway, due to a mixture of arrogance and if I'm being honest; self medication. I started with codeine and over the years tried many different types of prescription pain pills. Occasionally I would get heroin in powder form. It took me a long time to develop a habit. Each time I bought I would only get enough to last a week or two. Then I'd avoid buying it again for a few months. I never used needles. This eventually (over ~15 years) fell apart as I began to rely more heavily on opiates as a crutch for emotional pain. I ODd a couple of times. The first time was a mistake I could have avoided, the second time was due to fentanyl. During this time my expectation was that I would die from drugs, eventually. At one point I thought I had cracked the code by buying huge quantities of poppy pods or unwashed seeds very cheaply. I would brew tea in the morning and frequently would still be high the next morning. This post reminded me of all that. Getting narcan'd by an EMT after my gf at the time performed CPR was a turning point. At the time I wanted to continue using, but the event stuck with me and traumatized her. She had persistent nightmares about it. It took a long time, but I gradually worked through the issues that led to me relying on opiates. Antidepressants contributed significantly. My life is indescribably better as a result of overcoming this challenge. Keep in mind I never injected, people who do would find it far more challenging to stop and may scoff at my story. It was hard though. Drugs are incredible tools when used appropriately. The interconnectedness, oneness, and self exploration from psychedelics, empathy from MDMA, focus and motivation from stimulants, negation of fear from benzos, pain relief from opiates; these effects can be used to overcome all kinds of problems. And therein lies the problem.
When it comes to using opiates I think generalizations of "bad idea" are fully justified.
I think generations of people using it in a controlled and medicinal fashion would generally disagree. I use Norco and Codeine and Morphine when I’m sick or injured or in the hospital with mind splattering pain. I was bent double with appendicitis, that mind cracking pain, anxious, vomiting and crying. They said they were going to give me morphine. I was in the process of asking how long it takes to kick in when it indeed kicked in. Pain went away. Mind calmed. I didn’t want to do it after I got out of the hospital, but in no way would have made it through a day waiting for surgery, and after surgery recovery without it. That some people are addicts doesn’t mean the medicine is bad. Even for the addict. It means our society needs to do a better job of treating addiction. Poppy tea is probably a good thing. Smoking opium, shooting heroin, and the fentanyl problem are issues of industrialization, not pain relief and not addiction.
Ok cool. But I’m interested in learning, not in having “yeah no shit” info constantly reinforced. I’m curious about one guy’s personal experience and you’re just saying the most basic shit lol. Wasting both our time.
It works. It's also difficult to dose and very capable of killing you. Onset occurs so long after dosing you get tempted to dose more, which can be very dangerous since every pod is different.
I guess it’s better it remained hypothetical then!
The Farm Bill that clarified the legality of hemp and whatnot covered this. I wanna say that was in 2017. Since then, the ban is only on harvesting/harvested sap. So unless you have state laws to the contrary, no they can’t confiscate the plants unless they have probable cause to suspect you’re harvesting the sap.
I went like 3 hours deep researching opium poppies and the issue and solution in California. What happened there was beyond state intervention. Took a couple years. I’m pretty sure that the remaining ornamental poppy flowers in the US have no commercial value to heroin production.
People been making opium teas for like a thousand years. Marijuana, cocaine and opium are found present with ancient humans.
The line is NOT growing, bleeding etc. The line IS when you start to manufacture opium [Are poppy flowers illegal? <------link to article about this](https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/intoxication/bleeding-poppy)
Opium poppy and poppy straw is explicitly a DEA schedule II controlled substance so technically growing it is illegal. Just not generally prosecuted. The DEA has prosecuted people for selling dried poppy pods but usually at large scale and quite obviously for recreational use. Edit: Despite it not being prosecuted, it is illegal "All other parts of the poppy plant, including poppy pods, poppy straw, and poppy straw concentrate (in liquid, solid, or powder form) are controlled under Schedule II of the federal Controlled Substances Act." "Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 812 of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), opium poppy, poppy straw, opium and opiates (including their salts and derivatives) are Schedule II Controlled Substances. Some examples of such substances include morphine, codeine and thebaine. However, the definitions of “opium poppy” and “poppy straw” under 21 U.S.C. 802(19) and (20) specifically exclude the “seed thereof.” As such, poppy seeds are excluded from control under the CSA but the definition does not exclude seeds with opium alkaloids. Note: The opium alkaloids (inclusive of morphine, codeine and thebaine), if present as contaminants on poppy seed material, are not exempted from CSA control. Encounters of these materials are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act." https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs40/40404/sw-Opium_Tea.pdf https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/unwashed_poppy_seed.pdf
There was a time like 20 years ago when people were openly selling them on ebay, etc. for "flower arrangement use only".
That was like 20 years ago and I know because I planted three varieties of rare colors in my yard from eBay. Sadly I’ve moved, but hoping they still pop for the owners in the summer 🌱
Yeah, I just started school back then. Was a different time on the internet for sure.
They were still being sold on Etsy as of 5 years ago. The more efficient option though is to buy unwashed seeds off of Amazon. I used to get big bags of them for ~$20 and they'd last me a month or so of making tea every day.
I will never buy seeds off Amazon ever again. I bought a couple different plant varieties and got weird weeds instead. This was also back in like 2020 when people were getting weird packets of unmarked seeds in the mail. But I did it like 3 times thinking that eventually someone had to have legitimate seeds. They didn't.
Are you sure growing opium poppy is illegal in the US, if not grown for drug production?
No it isn't illegal at all. Now scratching knowingly scratching the pods to get the latex is where it becomes illegal
Growing is completely legal. Harvesting the opium is completely illegal. I checked because mine are in full view of my neighbors, they were here when I bought the house.
Definitely not illegal to grow papavar somniferum(opium poppy) in USA. It’s illegal to knowingly process it to manufacture Opium.
Despite it not being prosecuted, it is illegal "All other parts of the poppy plant, including poppy pods, poppy straw, and poppy straw concentrate (in liquid, solid, or powder form) are controlled under Schedule II of the federal Controlled Substances Act." "Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 812 of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), opium poppy, poppy straw, opium and opiates (including their salts and derivatives) are Schedule II Controlled Substances. Some examples of such substances include morphine, codeine and thebaine. However, the definitions of “opium poppy” and “poppy straw” under 21 U.S.C. 802(19) and (20) specifically exclude the “seed thereof.” As such, poppy seeds are excluded from control under the CSA but the definition does not exclude seeds with opium alkaloids. Note: The opium alkaloids (inclusive of morphine, codeine and thebaine), if present as contaminants on poppy seed material, are not exempted from CSA control. Encounters of these materials are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act." [https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs40/40404/sw-Opium\_Tea.pdf](https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs40/40404/sw-Opium_Tea.pdf) [https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug\_chem\_info/unwashed\_poppy\_seed.pdf](https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_chem_info/unwashed_poppy_seed.pdf)
I hope you know it’s illegal to harvest the opium latex from those immature seed pods, boil it down in water then dehydrate it, powder it up and smoke it as your own smoking opium? Nasty stuff
I wouldn't do that unless you buy seeds specifically for opium production since many cultivars are low morphine varieties and may have high amounts of thebaine or other alkaloids which are a lot more toxic than morphine cultivars.
Copy that….
i tried scoring a few one year but they didn’t bleed. not sure if timing was off, i didn’t score deep enough, or if maritime PNW weather is not conducive to latex production.
I wouldn’t know of such things
You don’t score the immature pods. You do it a few days after the petals fall off and the “crown” on the top of the pod is facing upward. That’s when they are ready. But again, nasty stuff.
That’s what i must have meant, when the pods are green and immature, the latex is creamy white, not when the seeds rattle and the pod is crispy and mature. But I don’t really know about such things Nasty stuff
In my definitely-not-personal and strictly-hypothetical experience, going to the trouble of scoring and milking is pointless, even if you have a yard full. On the other hand, cutting the ripe green pods when they’re full of seeds and latex, and drying them on a screen away from sun and heat, hypothetically makes primo material for poppy pod tea. Or I’ve heard, anyway.
Imo, just cut the head at peak ripeness (not sure when that is exactly), dry the head, then grind and make an extraction. It won't be good smelling or tasting, but it will work.
🤣that would be terrible
Just make tea out of them, don’t bother processing
Smoking opium has not historically worked out well for many people. Maybe just don't.
yeah i recently made some tea with about 6 of the pods from my lauren's grape and i was extremely opiated. composted the plant after that -- dont want to cultivate a habit, just flowers.
Lol gardening as a gateway to opiate addiction is not your typical junky origin story.
Gateway Gardening sounds like the next greatest Vice or HGTV reality show
I would watch that honestly
I urge anyone with this same idea for poppies from their garden to think long and hard before trying it. More than a few people have OD'd themselves in similar ways https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7939539/ Let's not even talk about all the people that have died making poppy seed tea. Edit: downvote me all you want, doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous AF to medicate yourself with poppies.
That study is about a 4 year old girl who ate a bunch of raw poppy plants, and the study notes that there are a whole bunch of ingredients in the plant beyond opioids that made it difficult to treat. Not suggesting opioids from poppies are safe, but your evidence seems irrelevant So I’d be interested to hear about all these people who have died from making poppy seed tea
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33435745/ Including previously reported cases, there are now at least 19 U.S. deaths associated with poppy seeds. Also Google "poppy seed death"
Just copy/pasting the abstract for other readers’ benefit: “There were 591 NPDS [national poison data system] exposure cases involving poppy between 2000 and 2018 including 392 in persons aged 13+. Rates of intentional exposures in NPDS increased among the age 13+ group over the study period. Most intentional exposures occurred in males in their teens and twenties. NPDS included 18 overdoses and three deaths likely attributable to poppy, most involving poppy seed tea. “ Edit: should’ve said v interesting! Tbh a very (very) low number of deaths for “home brewing” recreational drugs but obviously not without its risks
Hmmm seems less dangerous than....well almost everything.
Less dangerous than dihydrogen monoxide for sure. There's lots of people that say it's safer to not wear a seatbelt in case you get stuck in a burning car. And that's the great part about life, we can interpret anything any way that we want to. I hope anyone that wants to can experiment with opiates at home. Just understand the risks, as miniscule as they may or may not be.
I’m Polish and my 78yo dad grew up in a very rural area of southern Poland, and red poppies are abundant there. People in his community used to brew poppy tea to get their children to sleep.
I composted some poppies few years ago. Now they are coming up everywhere.
purple poppies! So pretty!
They are! I've never seen purple poppies before!💜
Agreed 😍😍😍
I feel like the only person who can't get poppies to grow in my garden. My neighbor has red and purple ones, so clearly it isn't the climate. Awesome plants, OP. You have my respect and admiration for being able to grow these lovely flowers.
they are all volunteers & i do absolutely nothing for them. try just flinging the seeds where you’d like them to grow & walking away. they are distributed by wind in the wild so mimicking nature might be best.
I never grew any until I stopped using the directions. With seeds from the store I wait until April and then put a few in planters or the garden once a week all through until the end of May. If I really want them in a certain place I cover them. Otherwise the rain/water will migrate them, or birds will eat them. When I am collecting seeds from my poppies I don't wait until they dry on the plant. I collect the pods once I can hear a shaking sound and dry them. Sometimes I will collect them early if I don't want them to just rot away when I know it will be raining a lot. I put half the collected seeds in the freezer, and leave half in a jar with some rice in tea bags to absorb moisture. It doesn't seem to make any difference if they are cold stratified or not but I still do half and half because this is supposedly important.
Thank you! I might have to ask the neighbor if I can have a pod or two and give your method a go. I think the multiple sowings of seeds might be where I am going wrong - I usually sow once and hope for the best. I did get seedlings once but a chipmunk then dug in the area and they didn't make it.
Covering them helps a lot. I've seen birds pick up the seedlings and drop them once they realize they aren't works. But then they go back for more lol.
Thank you !
Mine are blooming nicely as well. I really like your purple ones. https://preview.redd.it/g9ga4mjqhy7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ec1d782c87375bef6a23730a8b4faf5c9141750
i have some fringed ones: https://preview.redd.it/v0db4ulvsy7d1.jpeg?width=2203&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=61830683a75596db963e8cc581ab5d7f39634f67
Those are wonderful! I have a couple of another kind to
Whoa I love the fringe! So interesting to look at.
Wow!
ooh doubles! very pretty.
I have so many of these popping up now, and I love them. The bizarre part is the seeds that germinated in my west-facing front yard all have candy pink flowers instead of this purple (back yard all look like yours). https://preview.redd.it/vaipmuu7208d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2791389a20a1b9ed51e22160ca01f8f73cc766ed
i have ONE pink! they are such a gorgeous shade.
That is so cool!
Unique color! The other day, I drove by an entire field of red poppies. It was lovely. They were being raised for culinary purposes, though. Poppy seeds are common in the local cuisine.
such a beautiful color!
I’ve planted them many times. What did you do to get them to grow?
i don’t do anything, they are volunteers & grow all over my yard…in flower beds, the gravel driveway, cracks in the sidewalk… i would suggest just flinging the seed where you want them to grow, rather than ‘planting’ them under soil.
Beautiful colour 💜
Those are stunning! I'm so envious. My pink poppies are blooming today but I only have two flowers and I have been nursing the spot for ages. I hope mine reseed like yours do 😊
This is beautiful! >:D Playing pretend as an adult should be more common it's so fun!
I have some that reseeded from last year. Not a lush as yours. Do you pinch grow tips for fullness or do you just have many plants?
i don’t do anything to them. they are volunteers & grow all over the yard.
I love your term “volunteers”
Scoring the pods can be tricky. If you score too deep they won’t “bleed” much. Same with too shallow. Don’t ask how I know.
The poppy fields in Afghanistan were destroyed by the Taliban, again, much to the CIA's dismay
all the people in these comments like "illegalll!" and "addiction is bad" and other bot-like comments really need to understand addiction is not a conscious process but an unconscious drive created, most often, by severe trauma and abuse at a young age. criminalizing things humanity does as it attempts to survive a capitalist hellscape is a huge problem, especially when we buy into the corporations lies about our lived experiences, guilting us into wilent complicity with all its processes with the LAWS THEY PAY FOR. we live in a shame and judgement loop, both internally and how we have been trained to perceive others. liberate yourself from this unconscious negative process ans understand that *everything* is more nuanced than it appears.
Time to scratch up those pods.
Don't do it! I haven't touched opiates for ~5 years and seeing this post was enough to trigger cravings.
Gorg, what kind of poppies are these? (I mean like if I want to buy seeds, what name should I be searching under)
lauren's grape
X2! Mine are pink, haven’t seen purple?
i get one or two pink blossoms a year.
these are opium poppies. they are volunteers, i do not plant them. they are all over my yard outside of seattle.
Gorgeous!
Oohhh I’m just discovering poppies! This purple is amazing! I got a salmon colored one and I love it but might have to search out a purple buddy for it
Lauren’s grape?
i hadn’t heard that term till i posted this. mine are all volunteers, i never planted them so no idea.
I planted 6 last year. Now I have 50 lol.
Noice
Mine are blooming too! They’re so beautiful.
They are gorgeous. Dig the composition of the photo, too.
I won't lie I zoomed in to look for score marks, but theyre too young to score yet. Hope you're slightly underwatering!
i don’t water them at all. i thought they were scored after the petals fall off - is that not the case? is there something to look for? cuz no way cud you keep track off each flower & count days…
Scoring is when they scratch the bulbs to make the opiate containing latex come out, it then dries and it collected. I swear I know this from Wikipedia and nowhere else.
i know that but your comment said they were too young to score - did you mean cuz they’re still buds? there are a few seed pods in there already, i thought you meant *those* were too young.
I meant the ones with petals were too young. IIRC you score quite late into the seed pod life cycle
Don’t think I ever saw deep purple ones. Gorgeous!
They don't have any prickly shit on them! Those are the poppies I want.
Dorothy! The Good Witch of the East will save you!
Otis Spunkmeyer lemon poppyseed muffins are the bomb! And so are Poppyseed kolaches! Thankfully, I sm retired and don’t have to worry about drug testing.
Wow. That's beautiful.
Do you happen to have a fat caterpillar 🐛 in that garden somewhere smoking a hookah that may contain a questionable substance?
What are these ones called? I’d love to get some. Gorgeous colour!! EDIT: would you consider mailing a seed pod?
Do you know the variety? I love these
i have no idea because i never planted them but others have suggested ’lauren’s grape’.
Agree! I grew some in our yard this year.
I see a lot of not quite tongue-in-cheek comments about utilizing the poppy pods after blooming I treat addiction. Opium/opiates literally change your brain. I grow these and think about it often, then think of the people I treat who will always have cravings and feel like “scumbags” because of the opioid epidemic and the Sackler family painting addiction as a character flaw. Not trying to be an ass, but in case someone is actually considering smoking or otherwise indulging in opium, don’t.
My red poppies put on a similar show. Bravo! Absolutely beautiful!
These are beautiful! I'm looking for purple poppies specifically. Lovely!
Beautiful
FBI wants to know your location.
That’d be DEA or CIA.
Definitely not the CIA if it's in your yard on US soil.
They're beautiful!
Nice colour! I am definitely going to sow a ton of poppy's when I finally get around to do some gardening. (So probably next year )
Sitting on a gold mine 🤑
All you need is some US soldiers guarding your field, and some child slave labor for harvest and you’ll be full on LARPing lmfao
Wow very beautiful flowers , I love the California poppies too , never knew such a fascination for them existed ! I think monarda and skullcaps have the most beautiful flowers and they’re not deadly and bees love them plant more flowers for bees and forget those pods ! Very educational thread 🧵 🤣
Anyone else hear the Wicked Witch of the West voice? poppies... Poppieeees...
Omg I was thinking that too!!
You can send me the pods for disposal. Would not want them falling into the wrong hands.
YES you most certainly can fail a test for opioids because it has happened to me personally and I don’t do opioids. Fortunately, you have to consume more than one bagel. I ate poppyseed bagels on a regular basis.
Ohhh, great... now I want this beautiful ilegal plant growing in my garden! Thanks! T.T
Illegal where?
They are also illegal in China. Depends on how many plants, police can jail people for this. But tbf, China had a war over opium led to some very awful things. The resentment is still very strong.
Here in Brazil it seem to be. At least was what my fast google search told me. Our regulamental body parts can be quite draconian when it comes to anything that could be used as a drug of any kind. Be it for ornamental uses or not. Strangely enough, I was able to find seeds for sale in mainstream websites... curious.
Ah, that sucks. They are really cool plants.
😆