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Good point. Not practical even from a user's personal use stand point, and if somebody was thinking of growing it to process and sell any form of it on an underground market they would need to grow many, many hectares of the plants. It's just not possible to keep that many plants hidden.
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Yep, just imagine all the acres and acres of opium poppies that are grown in Mexico, ( to keep the US heroin addiction supplied)...I bet the fields can be seen from space!
Hey I cant find a link to post, but I was watching an interview with Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemna" and his more recent book "This is Your Mind on Plants")
and Michael goes into great detail on growing poppys/opium and the very specific legal trouble he got into with the Feds way back in 1997, with the DEA on his rear end, when he wanted to publish on article in Harpers Magazine specifically about growing poppys for the purpose of making opium tea.
I have no love for opioids, I think sometime in the 22nd/23rd Century we'll have to use all of Monsanto's collective cumulative research to date to create a fatal mutation / Agent Orange v4.0 / radioactive fungus to eliminate poppys and the opium trade from the entire surface of Planet Earth.
OK, well that makes sense. I didn't know it took so many plants. Unlike hiding a pot plant or 2, lol.
I guess China had miles of it back in the opium den days....
Right - have you seen them "harvesting" by scratching the base of the flower and collecting the drops that leak out? And that is very diluted compared to what would be needed for the typical pain sufferer. I guess if you just wanted to mellow out, maaaaaaaybe...but not enough for heavy-duty use.
Also as far as smuggling goes it is far more profitable to bring in Heroin. Way more value for the space it takes up because it is so much more potent.
Prior to becoming a state, Alaska hired a lot of Chinese workers to man the salmon canneries. They gave them opium occasionally. Near the old cannery locations you can still find some glass jars that once held the drug.
Strange fact...the poppy seeds you buy at the grocery store...they are the opium poppy seeds and can be germinated to grow the plants.
Apparently only the opium poppy seeds taste good.
Easier said than done. Poppy seeds that are sold for consumption are usually irradiated so they won't germinate, just like many other types of seeds that are intended for human consumption. It extends shelf life, stops them from spoiling in storage in the pantry.
And if they haven't been irradiated, then those that are viable are still hard to germinate and grow because there are special environmental conditions required and there is a special way the seeds and the seedlings need to be treated and protected before, during and after germination.
Also as far as smuggling goes it is far more profitable to bring in Heroin. Way more value for the space it takes up because it is so much more potent.
Well sure, but that's a highly manufactured product from a lab. I was talking about the average Joe growing poppies like he does mj.
Right - have you seen them "harvesting" by scratching the base of the flower and collecting the drops that leak out? And that is very diluted compared to what would be needed for the typical pain sufferer. I guess if you just wanted to mellow out, maaaaaaaybe...but not enough for heavy-duty use.
This is what my husband did many years ago. Found the plot of poppies and scratched the pod.
He said it was not particularly pleasurable! They were not knocked out completely, either.
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