Re: opium poppies
- Subject: Re: opium poppies
- From: E*@aol.com
- Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 00:54:10 EDT
In a message dated 10/22/02 10:04:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
llmen@wi.rr.com writes:
>
> Actually, Claire, I don't believe T&M sells them to US customers any
> longer. In their current catalog, they list all P. somniferum varies
> as "Not Available".>>>>>>>
It happens that I have been going through the T&M the past few nights and you
are right. They are not taking a chance on us. You might find Papaver
paeoniflorum or a spelling near that and it would be the same thing, usually
a double form with some singles mixed in. You might also find a listing for
"Breadseed" poppy. We are kind of nuts in the US over small things. None of
my friends are brewing up usuable drugs out in the garden. I wonder if this
restriction is also in Canada. I know you can buy OTC minor pain killers in
Canada and Mexico and nearly every other country in the world but not here.
They are mostly combined with a caffeine booster and some other chemical,
aspirin or acetominophen. You would damage your health if you tried to use
these as recreational do to the large amoounts of aspirin or acetominophen
contained. Just a long-winded way of saying the poppy thing is an extreme
measure.
>
> <<<<I've noticed that all the photos you see of the Opium Poppy fields
> seem to show a red flower with a definite white center, much like
> the cultivar 'Danish Flag'. Even in the drug trade, I would imagine
> there would be some selection towards cultivars with more "desirable"
> attributes.>>>>>
>
> On "Worldlink" I saw a program on Afghanistan showing all villagers
> including the local school teacher growing a field of poppies for the drug
> trade. They openly explained they needed the money. It was mentioned that
> a dry period after flowering, that is a low rain fall, good drainage area
> is needed for this production. The actual process of turning the poppies
> into saleable drugs was also shown. It is a quite a lot of work and I for
> one would be very fearful of producing a pathogen containing product so a
> local gardener is not likely to be up to this. It did seem a lot of them
> were red, they were all single flowered.
Worldlink is a satellite station that is international news and information
with no commercials. They did not seem to have much trouble filming this
program. Some of it was with the aid of the UN who were trying to locate
sources and give these farmers some other crop.
One more small thing, all of my older books that mention annuals and one by
Rob Proctor on old fashioned annuals (not very old) show and explain the
culture of these poppies. I have given away an awful lot of the seed so if I
disappear one day...........
Claire Peplowski
NYS z4
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