From: [A--om--s] at [utxvms.cc.utexas.edu] (Alan B. Combs)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Morphine in poppy seeds
Date: 22 Aug 1993 23:56:23 GMT

In article <24u0ip$[3 uq] at [usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu]>, [bi 007] at [cleveland.Freenet.Edu]
(Dan J. Baas) wrote:

> 
> Today on court TV I heard that poppy seeds contain small amounts
> of morphine.  I was wondering if I ate lots of poppy seeds would 
> I get hgigh?  I also want to know if there is a process (simple
> that I could do at home) to seperate the morphine from the poppy
> seed.  ANy help appreciated
> 
> -DJ (good mood)

I just posted an answer to this, but I don't think I sent it to the
right place.  -- somewhere out there is an unconnected response,
wondering where it belongs (poor thing).

The biomedical literature is clear that poppy seeds do contain actual
morphine alkaloid, not a substitute.  However, the amount contained
is microscopic (!!!).  (Petitte et al., OPIATES IN POPPY SEED: EFFECT ON
URINALYIS RESULTS AFTER CONSUMPTION OF POPPY SEED CAKE-FILLING, Clin.
Chem. 33, 1251-1252, 1987; Bjerver, MORPHINE INTAKE FROM POPPY SEED
FOOD, J. Pharmacy. Pharmacology 34, 798-801, 1982)  This means that
there is probably not a usable amount there (even if extracted
according to a different part of this thread).  However, there is
enough to cause you (barely) to fail urinanalysis testing for opiates.

This is one case where our drug testing does not lead to adequate due
process because we are not warned that a legal food can cause us to
lose our job.  One actually does have opiates in the urine and most
frequently have no recourse.  I emphatically am in favor of a drug-
free workplace, especially in jobs associated with public health and
welfare, or dangerous jobs.  However, because of the almost 100%
presumption of guilt when one flunks drug testing analysis, I am not
in favor of the way we now do it.