A quote from Virgil's Aeneid > ( She poppy pods in honey taught to steep, Reclaimed his race, and sooth'd him into sleep ) > In the past the Poppy was considered to be of Divine Origin! A plant capable of such miraculous effects that it must be "A Gift of the Gods" to suffering Humanity! > 0pium was "outlawed" in the United States by the Harrison Tax act in 1915. > the Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942, like so many other laws, as intended as "only" a tax law, but it effectively outlawed the cultivation of poppies even if grown for their seeds alone and the rest of the plant destroyed. > So, deliberately growing a half acre of 0pium poppies seems technically illegal. Yet large scale cultivation of poppies is carried on in many places by flower growers who sell them both fresh & dried. If poppies grown and used for ornamental purposes are illegal, it should be noted that laws against them are not enforced. Major seed companies sell 0pium poppy seeds specifically for growing and poppies are imported from overseas. > 0pium, the juice of the poppy, is a "controlled substance" but it's unclear how illegal the plant itself is; Since police and prosecutors have never demonstrated a clear policy on having a few bunches of poppies, or making poppy tea. > So, I look at the Federal law for some guidance, as usual I refer to Alexander Shulgin's exhaustive research of drug law in my scarce First Edition copy of his book Controlled Substances. > Opium is a schedule II narc0tic, & if you get caught with it, your penalty will - like all other federal crimes - derive partly from the gross weight. Therein lies the first of several problems: It appears 0pium can legally compared to half that amount ( by weight ) of heroin. Morphine, too can be officially calculated to be one half the strength of heroin. So if you've got 10 grams of 0pium you might be treated as if you had 5 grams of her0in, Same goes if you have 10 grams of morphine. > This comparison is somewhat correct for morphine, which is one-third as potent as heroin, but it is way off for 0pium. A gram of high grade 0pium rarely contains more than 10% morphine ( that is 100 milligrams; one tenth of a gram ). > If 0pium is computed as one half her0in, then 0pium penalties are five times harsher ( by weight ) than morphine althou it's only a tenth as strong! This situation is clearly not equitable!! > Then again, the law also recognizes "other Schedule I & II drugs", besides heroin & morphine. So 0pium could be categorized here where "mandatory" sentence are considerably lighter. This way there need be no argument as to potential strength of 0pium since there is a legal definition of it Althou not described in any later laws, 0pium is defined in the 0pium poppy control act s basically what it is - the juice of the 0pium poppy. This is 0piums only explicit description. > But what about the flower? the whole plant? Just the seed capsules? Are they illegal? How illegal? > the law also recognizes something called "poppy straw", described as all parts of the poppy plant. Poppy straw & "poppy straw concentrate" are both categorized as Schedule II narc0tics along with tincture of 0pium, 0pium powder ect. Other 0pium-containig concoctions are described in less restrictive schedules, some as high as Schedule V ( the higher the number the less illegal ). Codeine cough syrup is schedule V or IV, while codeine-containing pills are Schedule III & Pure Codeine is Schedule II. > "Poppy straw concentrate" doesn't seem to be defined and could well be any distillation of straw including poppy tea of any strength. > Because the poppy plant can be considered illegal but is not clearly defined in the federal sentencing guide lines, this puts a person with poppies at the mercy of the prosecutor as to just what one possesses. If he wants, the prosecutor could find poppies of no particular danger & do nothing. He could also asset the person had commited a "crime" and go from there! :bobby: WHAT CRIME??? > the "crime" is really up to the prosecutor. Poppy straw does not have a DEA number nor is it explicity compared to any other drug. It is grouped under "0pium" along with tinctures, powders, etc. Thus it could be measured as a Schedule III, IV, or V like some cough syrups. > If the prosecutor goes the hard route, a 16-ounce glass of poppy tea ( which may contain up to 1,5 grams of 0pium ) cold be counted as half a kilo of heroin!!! A Several dozen bunches of poppies might be equated with a steamer trunk full of heroin!!! > Or those same plants might be equated with a bottle of cough syrup. They might not be illegal at all!!! > Thus, the law is not clear on poppy tea, nor the 0pium extracted from legal flowers ( & not further refined ). the "offender" might face probation, Six months... or could be looking at life. the prosecutor will decide what to charge you with, indeed whether to charge you at all. > Why do Prosecutors have this power to charge you or not & decide what to charge you with? atriot: > A FAIRY TALE > Once upon a time in our country's history there was something called separation of powers, in other-words... in our legal system there was a legislative branch witch was in charge making the law and a judicial branch witch was in charge of interpreting the law and a executive branch witch was in charge of executing the law. > War was declared on "dope-fiends" & to make it easier to convict more "dope-fiends", of more "thought-crimes" and sentence them to more and more years of living hell in a cage... By some kinda of Black-Magic Voo-Doo or Bad Ju-Ju or something like that. All these powers are put in the hands of the executive branch, the police, and the prosecutors. They can now decide what's illegal & interpret the law on a whim - make it up on the fly basically. :beatdeadhorse5: OK... Boys & Girls, that's today's lesson on Legal Mumbo-Jumbo. eace: PEACE!
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