Opium poppies are they legal really? please advise

[stevil]

Can I remind you of a post I made some time ago about birds attacking my opium poppy seed pods for the seeds, to such an extent that I hardly manage to harvest any seed myself these days:
alanbishop.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=others&thread=3527&page=1

The European Great and Blue Tits have both learned this trick (similar to your chickadees I believe). I'd love to hear from anyone who has noticed this behaviour elsewhere. I have concluded that they get "tit-sized" amounts of opiates, get high and become addicted to the seed. You can see how desperately they hack at the seed below

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[heidihi]

Sept 15, 2010 18:29:23 GMT -5 @nuts said:

Thanks,heidihi and mjc,now I understand some more.

I let him dump some in his mouth right from the pod ..(only after I did and did not die!)

If you want him to sleep, give him a handful ;D ;D ;D ;D

you have no idea how tempting that is LOLOL..this child spins constantly until he passes out there is no middle ground!! good thing...I have a huge yard and two big dogs for him to burn out in ..maybe that is why he loves gramma so much it is her poppy seeds!!!


I am going to watch a bit more closely I thought the bushtits were in my poppyseeds because some had aphids on them! but yours got dug open!

[ottawagardener]

Stephen: In my early gardening days, I took herb and other seeds including poppy, dill, flax etc... from my cupboard and dumped them in the garden to see what would happen. I had lovely lilac poppies and discovered that I was potentially growing an illicit drug though no one seemed to care...

[poppy]

It is my understanding that the legality of specifically the papaver somniferum plant is WHY you are growing it. Papaver somniferum (aka opium poppy) plants are grown in gardens all over the USA for all the "right" reasons. As long as you are growing them for their beauty and cooking aspects nobody will bat an eye. They are simply breadseed poppies. You will however cross the line if you attempt (or even plan to) remove the alkaloids that the plant produces.

[grunt]

Recently in the Vancouver, B.C. area, they busted a farm with something on the order of 60,000 opium poppies = they were being grown to be processed into something called "doda" (sp?). They grind up the seed pods and seeds, and dry and powder them. Apparently imbibed as a tea. It seems to be becoming an addiction problem in the East Asian community there.

[remy]

Sept 20, 2010 2:30:55 GMT -5 grunt said:

Recently in the Vancouver, B.C. area, they busted a farm with something on the order of 60,000 opium poppies

See as I was saying a few in the garden is no biggie, but 60,000 some one is going to notice, lol.
Remy

[bobinthebul]

Sept 14, 2010 6:51:56 GMT -5 flowerpower said:

Sept 13, 2010 9:29:16 GMT -5 johno said:

If the local boys in blue were somehow to notice and drop by for an inspection, razor cuts on the pods would not be good. Otherwise, no big deal.

This is when it becomes a felony in NY. Otherwise growing plants and saving seed is perfectly legal. And always refer to them as Breadseed Poppies if anyone asks.

Are you sure? The razor cutting method is actually less effective than other modern methods for extracting opium, many of which are quite "doable" by amateurs. Today much of it is extracted chemically from the entire plant, not just the seed head. Still, I think that without evidence of actually harvesting opium, it would be unlikely they'd actually file charges unless they were using it as an excuse to get a warrant for some other suspicion. And I imagine that people with basements full of pot probably aren't the ones risking the attention by growing great stands of beautiful, blowsy opium poppies. ))

[flowerpower]

I am totally sure about the law in NY State. I checked. We are still under very strict drug laws they passed 40-50 yrs ago.

Most of the opium is contained in the green seed head. It's very obvious if you are slicing or cutting into the pod. The "juice" comes out white, but turns black in the air. There is enough opium in this for it to be considered a narcotic. So you could be arrested for "manufacturing of a narcotic". Its the same as if you were making meth.

I have at least 3 types of poppy. An orange perennial, the breadseed, and the flanders. I like the papery look of them. And the seeds are easy to save. You can also use the dry seed heads for crafts or decoration.

[mjc]

The orange perennial is probably not a Papaver somniferum nor is the Flanders....the breadseed on the other hand is and the laws only cover Papaver somniferum. It is probably a Papaver orientale and the Flanders is Papaver rhoeas.

[steev]

So I can smoke poppyseed to get baked?

[heidihi]

OMG this thread is hysterical I am glad I asked ..I got knowledge ..ideas and am bursting into laughter

no Steeve you can not bet baked on smoking poppy seeds ..but you can bake with them


I do all the time and could never pass a UA ..especially during the holidays when I make poppy seed kringles ...I use a pound of them per cake and well i t is hard not to eat an entire round over a few days!!!

but no buzz except the pleasure of eating that yummy pastry!

I dumped all the seeds everywhere in my garden between the raised beds ..I am not going to worry about it but please if anyone knows their own state laws I think this is really interesting conversaion myself
and then I wonder what the federal laws are on them now ..If I ever get time I am going to research myself

I just will not slit any with razors to catch the drippings until I am in my 80s and need my rumatiz medicine then I dont give a crap what the laws are I will do whatever to make myself feel good! ...but for now I think I will just let them be beautiful and collect the seeds and use them for pastry (I have collected at the most about a half lb to this point) ..maybe I can get enough to do one Kringle with my own ...now I am understanding there are no known poison poppy seeds are there?

.my grandson just loves eating them and then smiling in the mirror!

[steev]

I never regret the lack of orthodontia in my family so much as when I've been eating poppyseed strudel and can't brush; still, I have reminders of how good it was for hours.

[heidihi]

EXACTLY! but whatever it is worth it they are so good!

I if a cop comes and asks me anything I will give them a kringle out of the freezer give him a slice or if he looks like hs is going to rip my poppies up the whole thing!!!!

I have bribed cops with pastry in my life

..I am going to spread some of these out in an isolated poppyfree spot in the back garden and see what I get..(and try to just sprout some in a jar to see if they are viable as well )..I am curious to see what type grows

they are such a beautiful flower ..and the pods are so pretty ..they also are "bait" for the aphids in my yeard and keep them off the fruit trees (at least I am assuming because before I planted them so aggressively I had tons more aphids on the plums)

and them when the pods get aphids lady bugs come and then the birds come to eat the lady bugs this summer ironically I also about doubled the number of nesting birds in my yard

so who knows ...the poppies maybe?

[steev]

I didn't know birds would eat ladybugs, thought they're nasty-tasting, hence the bright colors. What kind of birds?

[heidihi]

junkos love them it seems