Killer Tea
Shoppers at some farmers markets are reportedly purchasing large quantities of the poppy seeds to brew tea — a drink that can offer a narcotic, possibly hallucinogenic, high.
Buyers have traditionally purchased poppy seeds for use on bakery products such as bagels and cakes, or for craft projects like dried flower arrangements.
When boiled in water, however, poppy seed pods can be potent enough to kill, according to Jerry Young of Bowie, Texas, whose son died in July from drinking a poppy seed concoction.
“He had taken poppy seed tea several times, always using the exact same amount of seeds (3.5 lbs) and same preparation. The last time he took it, it resulted in his death due to morphine overdose. The autopsy revealed a morphine concentration in his blood and urine that was higher than the lethal levels,” Young writes on a website he set up at http://www.poppyseedtea.com/
“Poppy seed tea contains different opiates in various concentrations. Typically morphine and codeine are the main ones. Morphine is recognized as one of the most addictive substances known to man and is, for this reason, also one of the most tightly controlled.
“Overdoses of morphine can be lethal. The main cause of death for morphine overdose is pulmonary edema, where the lungs fill with fluid passed from the blood stream through the alveoli in the lungs. That was the case with our son.”
ABC News consulted pharmacology experts who say the effects of poppy seed tea have been documented in scientific literature. Scott Lukas, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, said there are “many reports of poppy tea use and abuse. The stuff has a very bitter and foul taste, and so may not be popular for that reason.”
