Opium Poppy Question

Read another thread with the suggestion that growing opium poppies might be illegal ... would someone please tell me whether or not they are? My hunch is NO, but maybe someone here knows the rules. Don't really know for sure if I really want to know the answer, because it's easier to apologize than to get permission with some things in life.
GL.

I hope not. I am about to plant a big patch of them.

GL
It is legal to grow them, but if you were to grown a large field like an acrea, then I think it would be illegal. Just as long as you don't try to extract the substance from the seeds.

I'm sure PoppySue can tell you more.

That's how it works. it is legal to grow them, and illegal to process them

OH NO!! Not the dreaded "Poppy Question"!! If you ask 100 different people ....... you will get 100 different answers. If you ask me ~ I'd say yes they are illegal to grow. Seeds are legal to buy & sell but to cultivate them ~ it's illegal.

I know a lot of people strongly believe they are legal to grow as garden flowers .... but I think that's hog-wash. It's unlikely you'd get in any kind of trouble having a few flowers in your garden but cultivating opium is still illegal whether you harvest the opium or not. It's like believing that growing marijuana in your garden is Ok because you think the lovely foliage contrast so nicely with you're ornamental grasses ~ and of course your not going to smoke it!

GL there aren't many people that even know which poppy is an "opium poppy" and you can bet there certainly isn't many DEA agents that know what they look like. I grow them & I don't worry about it. If there ever comes a day when I have to pull all my poppies out - then I will - but I think the chances are pretty slim. If Martha Stewart can grow them then why can't I? - right? If it bothers you and you don't feel comfortable growing them there's a lot of other beautiful poppies that are legal.

These articles are pretty interesting reading ~ http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/970317/17popp.htm
http://www.newtimes-slo.com/archives/cov_stories_1998/cov_111998.html

Wowser, Poppysue. After reading that second article, I'm a little hesitant. Those people arrested for cultivating opium poppies were also growing marijuana, so it wasn't just for a pretty flower garden. Which makes me feel better and less paranoid.

I never could understand why you could sell the seed, but not grow the plant. Just a government boondoggle I assume. Thompson & Morgan did not have seeds available this year for sale in the US for the first time. They could not import the seed. I have a DEA helicopter which flies over my garden several times each summer and am waiting for them to try and come down the drive some day. I fit the profile they are looking for..large clearing in the woods. greenhouse and garden beds...and I drive a 13 yr old VW with deadhead stickers left over from my daughters teen years...Won't they be surprised to find me and my perennials!!! LOLOL

Gosh, Ele, you DO sound like a dangerous sort!! ;~)
DH's old Uncle grew these poppies 40 years ago. I got my first seeds from him. I'm still growing them.....& still no problems!

Ele,
is that you?? I was Grandmakat at Garden.com but don't tell anyone!
The opium poppies I grow came from my grandmother. She nipped some seed heads while visiting one of the royal gardens in England years ago - carried them home in her pocketbook! They are the peony flowered variety, bright pink and gorgeous and if anyone ever says anything, she told me they were Icelandic! Grandma wasn't much of a gardener, but she did have a neat sense of humor!
Kathleen