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BetsyB
"betsyb" wrote in message news:...


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BetsyB
"Amos Nomore" wrote in message
...
In article ,
FragileWarrior wrote:

Ann wrote in
:

Amos Nomore expounded:


I would like to retract that statement. Opium poppy plants are
scheduled in the US. Deliberate cultivation of the plant is actually
illegal, but since these plants are so common and have many uses other
than drug production, cultivators are rarely prosecuted unless they
are
growing conspicuously large quantities or are otherwise clearly
engaged
in drug production. If you are bothered by law enforcement for having
a
few poppy plants on your property, claiming they were not planted but
volunteered should get you off the hook unless, of course, you've been
slashing those pods.

I apologize for misinformation.
^the

I've told this story before here, but years ago.

The seeds I've offered were given to me originally by a little old
lady over in Scituate (she was a wonderful gardener, of course she's
gone now, and so is her garden). She had them growing in her garden
for years and years - until an overzealous new cop saw them and
decided to 'bust' her for them. It made the local papers. The
charges were dropped and the cop subjected to much ridicule. They
haven't bothered any of us again. Of course if I was carving up the
seedpods and harvesting the resulting sap I'd be in a bit of trouble,
but since they're right next to the busy road I live on and the police
have full view of them I'm pretty sure they'll not bother with me.

Here in Indiana, I got my current crop of Heritage Bread-seed Poppies
from one of the Landmark Homes in the area. They sell them in their
gift
shop.

I've grown very nice poppies from seeds from the grocery store. Some
were surprisingly ornamental, but most were white or red wild-looking
things (which I adore equally).

Most, if not virtually all, of the poppy seed used for food is a
byproduct of poppies grown for drug production, licit and illicit.
Chances are that if you grow poppies from say, McCormick seed, you will
be growing plants specifically bred for high alkaloid content. In the
past that meant a high percentage of morphine. In recent years,
however, strains of poppies have been developed which have a high
concentration of the opioid thebaine and relatively low morphine
content. Thebaine is desired by legitimate pharmaceutical manufacturers
as a precursor for the manufacture of oxycodone and other modern
synthetic opioids. Thebaine itself is quite toxic and has minimal
recreational potential, so any opium extracted from these high thebaine
poppy strains would be dangerous and worthless on the illicit drug
market as raw opium, and grossly substandard as a source for the
morphine base used for heroin manufacture. Since McCormick presumably
imports tons of poppy seed from legitimate pharmaceutical poppy growers
in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, much of that seed will nowadays be
of the high thebaine Tasmanian strain which is overtaking the morphine
dominant poppies of yesteryear in the licensed poppy industry.

I just thought I'd share this out of general interest but, you never
know, maybe it'll save a life or two. LOL. Well, at least maybe I've
compensated a bit for jeopardizing the legal lives of countless innocent
rec.gardens visitors. ;-}

On a similar thread: read thru this article from today's paper in NJ.
Prison guard returns to work

Poppy seeds led to his dismissal after drug test
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/9/07
BY FRAIDY REISS
TOMS RIVER BUREAU


JACKSON - It's going to be a long time before Brian K. Darcy finds the
courage to eat another poppy seed roll.

His fondness for the tiny seeds was the reason he tested positive for
opiates in a random drug test last March, and the reason he was subsequently
fired from the state Department of Corrections, the township resident said.

After 16 months of proclaiming his innocence, Darcy finally returned to work
Monday as a senior corrections officer at New Jersey State Prison in
Trenton. The Department of Corrections rescinded its disciplinary action,
promised him back pay and restored the seniority he had earned since he
began working for the department in 2000.

To Darcy, 37, it was only a partial victory.

"I'm back to work," he said. "I'm halfway there."

He vowed to seek help from his union as he continues the other half of his
mission: convincing the state to change its drug-testing methods so no one
else is fired for enjoying poppy seeds. He said he will not rest - or eat
another poppy seed roll - until New Jersey adopts a drug-testing policy that
mirrors the federal government's.

The U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services in 1998 changed its cutoff
for opiates to 2,000 nanograms per milliliter, from 300, after finding that
most positive tests below the 2,000 level were attributed to poppy seeds or
to prescription medication.

New Jersey's cutoff at the time was 300 nanograms. But then a Department of
Corrections employee, Reginald Fredette, also of Jackson, was fired in 2000
because of a positive drug test that he blamed on poppy seeds.

Fredette argued that New Jersey's standards were more strict than the
federal government's. He was reinstated, and the state established a
two-tier system that requires a follow-up test for law enforcement personnel
whose initial screening shows between 300 and 2,000 nanograms.

Darcy's follow-up test came up positive for morphine. However, the test was
performed on a portion of his original urine sample, and he blamed the
result on the same poppy-seed rolls he said he ate before the test.

And he pointed out that even with the two-tier system, New Jersey's
drug-testing policy is more strict than the federal government's.

"Why are we being held to a different standard?" he asked.

Deirdre Fedkenheuer, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections,
declined to comment, saying drug-testing policies are set by the state
Attorney General.

Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, acknowledged
that the state's standards are "somewhat more strict" than the federal
government's. But that is appropriate, he said, because the federal
government's policy applies both to civilians and to law enforcement
personnel, while the state's policy applies only to law enforcement.

Besides, Aseltine added, the second-tier test is sensitive enough to
eliminate the false positives that can result from poppy seeds.

"We feel this testing is appropriate for law enforcement in New Jersey," he
said.

Richard Saferstein, former chief forensic scientist for the State Police,
has sided with Darcy on the issue of drug screening. A test with a
300-nanogram cutoff can show a false positive for someone who eats even a
single poppy seed roll in the 24 hours before giving a urine sample, he has
said.

Saferstein has called on the state to raise the cutoff to 2,000 or to ask
people before they are tested to list all the foods they have eaten in the
past 24 hours.

Or, Darryl M. Saunders, Darcy's attorney, offered, the state could prohibit
law enforcement personnel from eating poppy seeds.

For now, though, Saunders said he was happy his client has returned to work.

"The state did the right thing," he said. "My work here is done."