3 ms·

Weed grower for about ten years here. If you've paid any attention at all to the legal industry, you'll see that there's an endless supply of new "genetics" com

by jtode 3y ago

Weed grower for about ten years here. If you've paid any attention at all to the legal industry, you'll see that there's an endless supply of new "genetics" coming out (99% hype bullshit) and some famous names like "Kush," "Diesel," etc. These are called cultivars, the same species but much like dog breeds, you can select for attributes like potency, flavor, etc. I've never seriously tried to grow opium, but I have had poppies in the garden and I've attempted to slice and get a bit of latex from them, and basically the seeds they sell for gardens are a weak cultivar that is not suitable for opium production. If you look at the Wikipedia page it's got a picture of what appears to be an Afghan farmer collecting latex, and you can tell from the photo that this is a heavy latex-producing breed, very different from what we can grow legitimately here. I'm sure seeds for that cultivar can be acquired fairly easily, but I wouldn't know how.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
Based on a link a commenter posted above, part of it is cultivar but a big part of it is also the environment: > Virginia's climate will not allow opium poppies to mature to a point at which opium could be extracted from their bulbs, Charlottesville Federal Drug Task Force Agent Richard Hudson said. The plants could reach that point in a greenhouse, he said.
- jtode 3y ago
  It's definitely not the best climate, but I believe any competent grower with knowledge of the specific craft of growing for extraction could do it. I might know someone who might have once attempted to look into getting known-stoned seeds to give it a go, but never found any sort of confirmation that these were the magic beans he was looking for so never made the attempt. The flowers come up just about everywhere without much effort - same is true of cannabis and tomatoes, but poppies will naturally come back wherever they establish themselves. Yes, the best herb grows wild in places like Jamaica with long summers, but you can grow quite a respectable crop outdoors where I live, about 200km north of North Dakota, especially if you've got a greenhouse, but even without, there are cultivars which are very amenable to short seasons. Not totally sure poppies completely transfer, knowledge-wise, like weed and tomatoes - if you can grow tomatoes, you can grow weed, by the way. But I'm pretty sure, and the article is seriously hinting, that that is at least somewhat the case, and it's definitely a crop that any competent farmer can just switch to, if their local environment is hospitable to it. I don't doubt that in Jefferson's day it was a more common home remedy than 20th century history books recorded.

by jtode 3y ago

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago

Based on a link a commenter posted above, part of it is cultivar but a big part of it is also the environment: > Virginia's climate will not allow opium poppies to mature to a point at which opium could be extracted from their bulbs, Charlottesville Federal Drug Task Force Agent Richard Hudson said. The plants could reach that point in a greenhouse, he said.

jtode 3y ago
It's definitely not the best climate, but I believe any competent grower with knowledge of the specific craft of growing for extraction could do it. I might know someone who might have once attempted to look into getting known-stoned seeds to give it a go, but never found any sort of confirmation that these were the magic beans he was looking for so never made the attempt. The flowers come up just about everywhere without much effort - same is true of cannabis and tomatoes, but poppies will naturally come back wherever they establish themselves. Yes, the best herb grows wild in places like Jamaica with long summers, but you can grow quite a respectable crop outdoors where I live, about 200km north of North Dakota, especially if you've got a greenhouse, but even without, there are cultivars which are very amenable to short seasons. Not totally sure poppies completely transfer, knowledge-wise, like weed and tomatoes - if you can grow tomatoes, you can grow weed, by the way. But I'm pretty sure, and the article is seriously hinting, that that is at least somewhat the case, and it's definitely a crop that any competent farmer can just switch to, if their local environment is hospitable to it. I don't doubt that in Jefferson's day it was a more common home remedy than 20th century history books recorded.