In this article, I’m going to answer the question Can poppy seeds get you high? The short answer is yes, but I’ll explain the factors that need to happen for a poppy seed high to occur.
Additionally, I will tell you about some very important details including poppy seed high risks, poppy seed high effects, poppy seed high dosage, and even how you can potentially fail a drug test from eating your morning poppy seed bagel or muffin.
The purpose of this blog post is not to teach you how to produce a poppy seed high, but to educate you about the health risks of a poppy seed high, which can include overdose and even death.
Before I get into the poppy seed high specifics, you seriously have to read a brief story about one of my patients on methadone when I was a counselor that was hooked on the poppy seed high and would go through serious opiate withdrawal symptoms if he didn’t take his poppy seeds every day.
So on the morning where I did his intake and helped him sign up for methadone treatment, he was in poppy seed high withdrawal and was NOT in good shape.
This picture accurately portrays his psychological state when I first met him early that morning to do the paperwork and orientation with him.
Man Seeking Methadone Treatment For Poppy Seed High Addiction
One early morning around 6 am, I was downstairs at the two-story methadone clinic when I saw a new face. It was a 30-year-old male that was scheduled to do his intake with me.
After introducing myself, I took him upstairs to my office to begin doing the intake paperwork with him. Typically new patients signing up for methadone treatment have either been using heroin or high dosages of RX opiates.
But this patient was seeking methadone treatment for a severe addiction to the poppy seed high.
He told me he drank copious amounts of poppy seed tea (PST) daily, and if he didn’t consume a certain amount, he would go into opiate withdrawal. This was because he had a physiological dependence to the opiates that were naturally occurring in the poppy seeds.
My new patient stated that he’d been addicted to the poppy seed high for several years on-and-off. He stated he had used methadone to get off poppy seeds in the past, and now he was sick of his addiction and ready to use Medication-Assisted Treatment to stop abusing poppy seeds and getting high.
This particular patient was very difficult.
He constantly missed his counseling appointments, and he had a new excuse every single time. He also continued to test positive for cocaine in nearly all of his monthly random drug tests.
But he was a genuinely nice guy and I was very proud of him for successfully staying off the poppy seed high.
He was very wealthy and highly intelligent, and he even paid for three of his heroin addict friends to get monthly methadone treatment, which added up to over $1,000 a month on top of his own cost of treatment.
Like I said, he was a really nice guy.
Female Client of Mine Who Was Addicted to the Poppy Seed High
Fast forward about five years and the next person I met that was addicted to the poppy seed high was a new student in my online course Ultimate Opiate Detox 2.0. She emailed me after registering for the home-based learning program and stated that she was addicted to the poppy seed high.
I corresponded with her via email back and forth for less than two months.
The last email I got was her success story on how she used kratom to get off poppy seeds, then was easily able to taper off the kratom using supplements and exercise.
She said it was much easier than she thought it would be. I was super proud of her and told her so.
I just love reading emails from people that have conquered their opiate addiction after learning from my articles, videos, courses, or coaching program.
Why Can Poppy Seeds Get You High?
Those were literally the only two people I’ve ever known that were addicted to the poppy seed high. It’s pretty rare, but poppy seed addiction is certainly affecting people in negative ways, and it has even killed some people that took too many poppy seeds.
So at this point, I’m sure you’re wondering why can poppy seeds get you high?
Let’s talk about the poppy seed high mechanism of action so you’ll have a good understanding of how it works.
The Opium Poppy Plant
The opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum) has been cultivated for centuries as a source of opium. During this time, many people have prepared and drank a homemade concoction called “poppy seed tea” for things like pain relief, anxiety relief, as an anti-diarrheal, and even to get a euphoric poppy seed high.
Here’s how poppy seeds can get you high:
- The opium poppy plant produces seed pods.
- Opium is made from the sap that is coaxed out of the opium poppy’s seed pod but the seeds themselves are not used to make opium.
- The poppy seeds that are inside the pod contains much fewer opiates than the sap.
- The poppy seeds contain opiates from two sources (naturally occurring opiates from the poppy seed and opiates from the sap that contaminate the poppy seeds).
- The main source of opiate alkaloids from poppy seeds includes morphine and codeine (though it also contains many more alkaloids than this).
How Many Poppy Seeds are Needed to Get a Poppy Seed High?
The poppy seeds you buy at the store or that come on bagels contain between 0.5 to 10 micrograms of morphine per gram. This is nowhere near enough to produce a poppy seed high.
A medically-prescribed dosage of morphine to treat moderate to severe pain is 15-30 mg every 4 hours as needed.
Back in the day, when I used to take opiates every once in a while recreationally without addiction, my friend used to sell me 60 mg morphine tablets once a month when he would get his prescription. I would just buy one since they were expensive and I was always broke back then.
I would take the 60 mg morphine tablet and wash it down with a few beers and feel really good for the next several hours, where I would typically party with girls since I felt so confident from the morphine/alcohol synergy.
For a newbie that has never taken opiates and has no tolerance, I believe 10 mg of morphine could produce very pleasant effects. So for the poppy seed conversion, this would equal approximately 40 grams of poppy seeds (about a third of a cup) to get around 10 mg of morphine into your system.
Failing Drug Tests with Poppy Seed Bagels
It’s well documented that eating poppy seeds, which are commonly used in muffins, bread, and bagels, can be enough to trigger a positive reading for the opiate morphine.
Many people think this is just a myth, but it’s actually a scientific fact that has led to many reports of people failing drug tests either prior to getting hired for a job or during their employment.
To avoid failing a drug test, never eat anything with poppy seeds in it 48 hours before a drug test. This is much more than enough time to pass your test with flying colors as you would only test positive for opiates within 12-24 hours after eating poppy seeds.
The Poppy Seed High Experience
I’ve never used poppy seeds to get high in all my life. I didn’t know about the validity of this approach when I was an opiate addict, and since I’ve quit opiates I’ve experimented with kratom several times for research to have a subjective experience I could write about in articles, however, since learning about the poppy seed high I haven’t had an interest in using them for research purposes.
It seems too dangerous because you can never be certain of how much opiates a given batch of poppy seeds contain. I don’t want to jeopardize my health or life.
Thus, since I don’t have my own poppy seed high experience, I will tell you what it’s like based on what my methadone patient and coaching client both told me about it.
The Buzz
The effects come on in about 15 to 20 minutes, and the effects last anywhere from 8 to around 24 hours depending on the number of opiates in the poppy seeds and how many poppy seeds you consume.
It can be a mild opiate buzz like hydrocodone or in higher dosages, it can be heavily sedating and cause you to nod out like you’re on heroin.
Dangers of the Poppy Seed High
People who want to experience a poppy seed high who have a tolerance and dependence typically make poppy seed tea. And they need to use a LOT of poppy seeds to get a buzz after they’ve been doing it for a while.
Here are the dangers of using poppy seeds to get high:
- The poppy seed high can be habit-forming and highly addictive.
- You can develop a physiological dependence which means you will experience opiate withdrawal symptoms if you stop using poppy seeds abruptly.
- You never can be sure how many opiates are in a batch of poppy seeds which is dangerous because you can take too much and overdose.
- When you use the massive amounts of poppy seeds it takes to get a poppy seed high, you are at high risk of ingesting pesticides, heavy metals, and a host of other chemicals that are way below harmful levels when consumed as directed, but potentially very harmful in high doses.
Poppy Seed High – Final Thoughts
Now you know the answer to the question Can poppy seeds get you high. The poppy seed high can be mild, moderate, intense, and it can even lead to overdose and death.
Prolonged use of poppy seeds to get high can lead to tolerance, dependence, addiction, and severe withdrawal symptoms from stopping abruptly.
I’ve met two people with poppy seed tea addictions that said the withdrawal from it was absolutely dreadful. Be safe and don’t use poppy seeds to get high.
There are better and safer ways to catch a buzz in life.
If you have any comments or questions on the poppy seed high, please post them in the comment box below. Be safe, and take good care of yourself.
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