I just used the chuck them in a blender with some juice and make a (very bitter) green smoothie type thing, with a bit of fruit juice (citrus goes well to help neutralise the bitterness a little).
Once i'd blended it into a frothy green soup, i would strain it with a reasonably fine sieve - then "wash'n'toss" the ground up solid plant material (basically swallowing pinches of pod grinds like you would swallow pills).
No need to heat it, boil it down or whatever - though you can if you want to make an extract you can keep for a while.
Alternatively, you can dry out the pods, but the more you fuck around with poppy pods, the more you risk having them go mouldy on you.
I think everyone that grows opium poppies loves the idea of scoring them to collect latex - but without a rather large plot of land and a sizeable crop, this method doesn't yield a whole lot.
Best bang for your proverbial buck is making tea IME.
I used to be a massive pod fiend, and would grow and dry hundreds of pods each season.
Through trial and error, i realised that things like the poppy straw (i'm probably not using that term in its correct context - but the stalk bit that the pods sit atop of) were
definitely worth keeping and using.
I remember being pleasantly surprised when i had some stems left over and i was running low, and making a tea out of just the dried stalks - it wasn't
strong, but they did the trick.
So - yeah, you can use all the plant (leaves, stalks etc) as they
do have active alkaloids in them, albeit in smaller concentrations than the pods.
Just be careful not to be complacent with dosing - if you take too much, it will make you ill, and opium has such a long halflife that you'll feel terrible for a couple of days.
And of course, don't mix with booze or other downers like benzos, as this can be dangerous.
Enjoy
