Re: Papaver somniferum


>
>Hi Margaret,
>
>This is another subject that goes round and round.  These poppies have grown
>in my garden and all over my town for years.  Sometimes they are sold as
>peony flowered poppies and dozens of other euphemisms.  They grow all over
>Europe as ornamentals and are considered weeds in English gardens.
>
>I have never heard or read of any legal problems with papaver somniferum.  I
>do not believe we have the climate to use this plant illegally.  I would not
>cease growing the many ornamental forms of this poppy in New York State.  Can
>anyone cite a true legal opium poppy problem in the US?
>
>Claire Peplowski
>NYS z4

I'm not sure I understand your question. Can opium poppies be grown to 
produce opium in this country? I think so, but it generally requires more 
patience and stoop labor than we usually tolerate. Is the DEA onto opium 
poppies?  Yes.  Kay Lancaster posted something rather definitive about this 
some time ago, and I've been waiting to see if she'd step in 
here.  Apparently they can move in on growers of P. somniferum when they 
want to, but generally they don't bother because gardeners aren't growing 
it in sufficient quantity to pose a threat.

Apart from that, I had heard that DEA officials had ripped poppies out of a 
garden in Moscow or Lewiston, Idaho, saying they were opium poppies -- and 
they were not.  Also, on one gardening list, a young woman admitted to 
having harvested small amounts of opium for her headaches from her own 
poppies.  I hope somewhere in here I have answered your question.  Margaret L


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