Re: Free Poppy Seeds
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Free Poppy Seeds
- From: "* A* O* <s*@poboxes.com>
- Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 14:38:27 -0800
At 01:21 PM 2/1/99 -0800, Krzysztof Kozminski wrote:
>
>On Fri, 29 Jan 1999 Kurt Mize <K1MIZE@aol.com> wrote:
>> Noticing all the poppy seedlings in my garden made me realize that now
is the
>> time to plant, and I've got quantities of seed of a nice, clear pink,
peony-
>> flowered opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, that I'm willing to share with
>> anyone who will send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
>
>Isn't opium poppy illegal? A quick search
>in http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html brought the following:
>
> 11055. (a) The controlled substances listed in this section are
> included in Schedule II.
> (b) Any of the following substances ...
> ...
> (3) Opium poppy and poppy straw.
>
>And then sections 11350 and subsequent threaten assorted penalties for
>posession, selling, giving away, and basically having anything to do with
>these controlled substances. No exceptions for ornamental use...
>
>KK
Kurt & Krzysztof -
I guess, technically, you are correct. It might seem that Kurt might
not be in trouble for distrubuting the seeds, but he would be in trouble
for having the plants. And people might be in trouble for growing the
seeds into plants. I have heard all of this in vague rumours and
statements on the Internet in the past, with various stories about little
old ladies being hauled off to jail because of the pretty flowers they
had in their gardens for the past 40 years. Seemed unlikely and
improbable, but this legal information seems to state it very comclusively.
I include statements from the URL KK sites, but with a little more depth
to show that they do indeed name the Genera/species of poppy.
11019. "Narcotic drug" means any of the following, whether produced
directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable
origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a
combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:
(a) Opium and opiate, and any salt, compound, derivative, or
preparation of opium or opiate.
(b) Any salt, compound, isomer, or derivative, whether natural or
synthetic, of the substances referred to in subdivision (a), but not
including the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium.
(c) Opium poppy and poppy straw.
(d) Coca leaves . . .
11021. "Opium poppy" means the plant of the species Papaver
somniferum L., except its seeds.
11025. "Poppy straw" means all parts, except the seeds, of the
opium poppy, after mowing.
I know form botanists with some expertise in this area that the
'garden variety' of P. somniferum does not actually yeild a usable
form of the narcotic, nor is it very easy to extract in any case (you
can't really just grind up the plant or squeese the 'juice' - it is
far more complicated than that. But I can see they take no chances
with 'splitting hairs' with regard to the legality of the matter.
Well, sorry Kurt - maybe you might want to reconsider what
you do with these seeds. Perhaps there is someone in another state
or province in which these plants might be more legal! Sheesh.
Sean A. O'Hara sean.ohara@poboxes.com
h o r t u l u s a p t u s 710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose' Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
