"paghat" wrote in message
news
In article jj9ic.8032$0u6.1529055@attbi_s03, "Pam - gardengal"
wrote:

"escapee" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 20:55:36 GMT, agnatha3141
opined:

does anybody know for certain what kind of poppies are legal and what
kind are not in the us? i read in a past post that poppies are legal
to
grow as long as you dont go making heroin from them, but is that
definately true?
i planted some poppy seeds, and it has been about four months. i
think
that blooming time is near, and i dont want to get arrested. what is
the deal with poppies?

The only one is Oriental, but I grow them and nobody arrests me.
Catalogs
sell them everywhere

I am constantly amazed at the amount of misinformation that gets
disseminated through this group.

Quite right! Though I trust you're not leaving out your own ability to
disseminate misinformation, as you do it as readily as Escapee or any of
us! As for example:

Papaver somniferum, aka the breadseed, sleep,
peony-flowered or opium poppy IS illegal, but enforcement is, at the
best,
sporadic and half-hearted.

Papaver somniferum is legal in the majority of countries, including the
United States; some of the few countries that ban them do so because they
are noxious weeds or could displace native poppies (they're illegal to
propogate in Finland & Norway). In the USA, what the purchaser does with
the poppies is what defines legality or illegality. As ornamentals,
legal. To attempt to extract alkaloids for use as a drug, illegal,

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/...w_timeline.htm
pay particular attention to 1942

http://www.freep.com/features/living...6_20010316.htm

http://www.erowid.org/plants/poppy/poppy_law.shtml
Internet sellers of opium poppy seeds are very careful to add legal
disclaimers, since all parts of the plants - except the seeds - are listed
as a controlled substance.

If you read the Controlled Substance Act, it makes no differentiation as to
the purpose for growing the plants - they are simply illegal to grow in this
country. Obviously, DEA and other law enforcement agencies have other fish
to fry rather than SWAT-teaming down on the hobby gardener and as I clearly
stated previously, someone somewhere is growing them commercially for seed
production, if for nothing else. Nonetheless, growing the plant is illegal.
Unless you care to reinterpret the law.