6 ms·

Poppy Seed Tea Can Kill You

Waterluvian 8y ago
3.5 pounds of poppy seeds to concoct one dose of tea. I can only surmise that this was being taken, knowingly, as a recreational drug, no? I think my curiosity with this website is that it speaks with two conflicting tones. One is the desire to educate, protect others, and take full responsibility for their son's death. But the other is almost a, "if you're reading this, we assume you already read between the lines on what people are doing with poppy seeds." Maybe the site needs a section to educate people of how exactly poppy seeds can be abused?
- theoh 8y ago
  I don't understand your comment. I think the site is trying hard to strike a nonjudgmental tone. Yes, poppy seed tea is a way of taking opiates. The point being made is that the dose is difficult to control.
  - Waterluvian 8y ago
    Hmm. I didn't really think of it that way. I was seeing a site that wanted to warn people of a danger but not touch on the fact about how people can abuse poppy seeds. I guess my confusion is that I was so unaware of this that I read half the page before I realised that this wasn't some accidental exposure to high concentrations of poppy seed extract.
- skellera 8y ago
  A simple search will tell you how it is abused. I don’t think they want to be the ones spreading that information.
- kristiandupont 8y ago
  If you happen to search Google for "poppy seed tea" out of curiosity like I was, this site pops up. I think it serves the intended purpose.
- sooheon 8y ago
  > But the other is almost a, "if you're reading this, we assume you already read between the lines on what people are doing with poppy seeds." Why do you have a problem with that stance? The very second sentence mentions that opiates can be found on seeds. Plenty of harm reduction and education groups take the stance of being clear about consequences and dangers without going into detail about exactly how to brew a batch.
olliej 8y ago
To be clear this was the result of mixing a lot of poppy seed tea with Xanax. While it does look like in this sad case it may have been intentional abuse of poppy seeds (to get high), mixing drugs without talking to a doctor can easily cause severe problems. But it isn’t just poppy seeds. Some non-abusable substences mixed with other drugs can have severe complications. If you are taking benzodiazepines then consuming grapefruit is dangerous. If you’re on MAOIs then turkey, cheese, etc are very very dangerous (anything with tryptophan, but those are just super common causes of problems)
- a0-prw 8y ago
  From the article, "his blood free-morphine content alone (219 ng/ml) was already lethal, even without the benzos"
- sk5t 8y ago
  Also incompatible with MAOIs: liver, fava beans, a nice chianti.
aaron695 8y ago
As olliej mentions the bigger warning might be mixing benzos and opioids. (And to clarify poppy seed tea is only used to get high) This news article is basically exactly the same except the medications were prescribed by a doctor - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/raising-awareness-of-accidental-overdose-of-prescription-drugs/10183646 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/raising-awareness-of-... Poppy seed tea can kill, but I think in the real world it's because people have mixed it with benzo's and it's not commonly known how much more dangerous this is. OT See if you can google how much alcohol you can have safely when on benzo's. It's impossible to find, just the typical prohibition style none is safe, except I know lots of people who do mix them, because you can, but no one will talk about it. Erowid's the best around. [edit] As a0-prw points out blood free-morphine content 219 ng/ml was lethal alone.
anon2775 8y ago
3.5 lbs of poppy seed makes how much tea: a cup, a liter or a gallon? Seems like a heckova a lot of seeds for a batch of tea. If this were in the US, shouldn't this be something the USPHS, USDA or FDA should regulate? Selling bulk poppy seeds containing enormous amounts of would-be heroin seems tantamount to drug trafficking.
- krageon 8y ago
  Regulating poppy seeds really isn't the answer to systemic drug abuse. It hasn't worked well for any of the countries that try it. The right response is patently decriminalization and management if you want to lessen the impact of drug use on your society. You have all of Europe, which has many different policies and good statistics on their effects, to use as investigative material.

3.5 pounds of poppy seeds to concoct one dose of tea. I can only surmise that this was being taken, knowingly, as a recreational drug, no? I think my curiosity with this website is that it speaks with two conflicting tones. One is the desire to educate, protect others, and take full responsibility for their son's death. But the other is almost a, "if you're reading this, we assume you already read between the lines on what people are doing with poppy seeds." Maybe the site needs a section to educate people of how exactly poppy seeds can be abused?

theoh 8y ago
I don't understand your comment. I think the site is trying hard to strike a nonjudgmental tone. Yes, poppy seed tea is a way of taking opiates. The point being made is that the dose is difficult to control.
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  Hmm. I didn't really think of it that way. I was seeing a site that wanted to warn people of a danger but not touch on the fact about how people can abuse poppy seeds. I guess my confusion is that I was so unaware of this that I read half the page before I realised that this wasn't some accidental exposure to high concentrations of poppy seed extract.
skellera 8y ago
A simple search will tell you how it is abused. I don’t think they want to be the ones spreading that information.
kristiandupont 8y ago
If you happen to search Google for "poppy seed tea" out of curiosity like I was, this site pops up. I think it serves the intended purpose.
sooheon 8y ago
> But the other is almost a, "if you're reading this, we assume you already read between the lines on what people are doing with poppy seeds." Why do you have a problem with that stance? The very second sentence mentions that opiates can be found on seeds. Plenty of harm reduction and education groups take the stance of being clear about consequences and dangers without going into detail about exactly how to brew a batch.

olliej 8y ago

To be clear this was the result of mixing a lot of poppy seed tea with Xanax. While it does look like in this sad case it may have been intentional abuse of poppy seeds (to get high), mixing drugs without talking to a doctor can easily cause severe problems. But it isn’t just poppy seeds. Some non-abusable substences mixed with other drugs can have severe complications. If you are taking benzodiazepines then consuming grapefruit is dangerous. If you’re on MAOIs then turkey, cheese, etc are very very dangerous (anything with tryptophan, but those are just super common causes of problems)

a0-prw 8y ago
From the article, "his blood free-morphine content alone (219 ng/ml) was already lethal, even without the benzos"
sk5t 8y ago
Also incompatible with MAOIs: liver, fava beans, a nice chianti.

aaron695 8y ago

As olliej mentions the bigger warning might be mixing benzos and opioids. (And to clarify poppy seed tea is only used to get high) This news article is basically exactly the same except the medications were prescribed by a doctor - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/raising-awareness-of-accidental-overdose-of-prescription-drugs/10183646 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-31/raising-awareness-of-... Poppy seed tea can kill, but I think in the real world it's because people have mixed it with benzo's and it's not commonly known how much more dangerous this is. OT See if you can google how much alcohol you can have safely when on benzo's. It's impossible to find, just the typical prohibition style none is safe, except I know lots of people who do mix them, because you can, but no one will talk about it. Erowid's the best around. [edit] As a0-prw points out blood free-morphine content 219 ng/ml was lethal alone.

anon2775 8y ago

3.5 lbs of poppy seed makes how much tea: a cup, a liter or a gallon? Seems like a heckova a lot of seeds for a batch of tea. If this were in the US, shouldn't this be something the USPHS, USDA or FDA should regulate? Selling bulk poppy seeds containing enormous amounts of would-be heroin seems tantamount to drug trafficking.

krageon 8y ago
Regulating poppy seeds really isn't the answer to systemic drug abuse. It hasn't worked well for any of the countries that try it. The right response is patently decriminalization and management if you want to lessen the impact of drug use on your society. You have all of Europe, which has many different policies and good statistics on their effects, to use as investigative material.