Poppy seed teas are getting more popular, and allegedly less potent in the US. That said, a very high level of caution is important when dealing with things like this.
I've never tried the tea, and don't think I will; I only use opioids for chronic pain, as labeled out on my script. That said, there are a lot of precautions you can take when using poppy seed tea based on research. I've collected some of those here.
I am not a doctor, nor a medical researcher, and should not be treated as such. This information is largely based on anecdotal evidence, and should not be considered absolute, and is anything but sacrosanct. Poppy seed tea (PST) can be dangerous with any precautions, can cause addiction and other adverse effects, and, when used, a user takes full responsibility for the risks. I do not advocate its use, here or anywhere.
First, you are dealing with an opiate here, rather opiates. That said you should follow the ultimate option for harm reduction: don't mix with booze. Second, you can never know the composition of the tea. It may have a lot of morphine, a lot of codeine, or a lot of thebaine. Or it could have none (more on that later). So treat it as though you are taking morphine or codeine: don't stack more morphine or codeine onto it, and avoid lethal combinations. Third, taking it with benzos is a bad idea. Taking benzos with anything you aren't sure of is a bad idea. Those are the rough basics. I know a lot of people have ignored them, but that's why there have been some deaths from PST.
Poppy seeds can contain between 2 and 252 ug of morphine per gram. Forty grams of seeds used for tea can yield up to 10 mg of morphine, or a normal therapeutic dose (oral). That will almost never be the case. You'd need unwashed seeds from plants bred for morphine production. Many seeds these days are washed and come from plants bred for thebaine content, useful for synthesis of hydrocodone, dilaudid, and other semi-synthetics. However, always assume you'll be getting 10 mg of morphine for 40 g of poppies used in PST. 400 g of poppy seeds, or 14.2 oz, could give you an overdose level of morphine. If you drink PST, easy does it. Never consume more than 400 g worth of PST without waiting for a bit; that should give you about 150 mL or, very roughly, 1/2 c of tea. (Edit: the amount of PST can vary considerably based on your preparation method. This is the safe assumption. But don't drink 400 g worth in a go anyway, since 100 mg of morphine is OD level.)
Don't let your tea steep for too long or in hot water. The part of the seed containing opiates are the outside coating, rubbed off from the latex of the pod. That's what PST brewing seeks to dissolve. As the seeds steep or are agitated, water will enter the seed and force out oils from the seed. These oils are toxic in high doses and will make you vomit and be nauseous for hours, according to numerous reports. Hot water better enters the seed, and thus better forces out oils. Ice water, though, won't dissolve the opiates. A mildly acidic solution of about room temperature water (sometimes 60F) has been suggested by users of PST. More than 30 minutes total steeping time for the tea will also cause issues, and this is the sum of all washing times (as in 10-6, 10-6-4, and 15-10-5 will net 16, 20, and 30 minutes, respectively). If you overdo it, you might get more morphine and codeine, but you'll also puke.
PST is also known to cause extremely harsh addictions. I've read that the withdrawal symptoms last for 4-10 days in clinical settings, with vomiting very common. That sounds like a normal opiate, but trust me, the one study I saw along with numerous user-reports talk about the horrible withdrawals. I'm assuming this comes from the insane variation in dosages. That would also mean you could get withdrawal just by having a few bad batches. Edit: morphine-dreams below talks about his withdrawals. They lasted him a month, with a week at the worst of it, worse than anything in his life.
Since different poppy seed producers vary wildly in their products, try a few very cautiously and then stick with one that works with you to try and minimize variation. If you use a lot of tea, mix together bags from the same producer into one big bag (for storage, not direct brewing). This minimizes the variation, but still anticipate a lot of differences between batches for safety.
Some people talk about being able to "tell" what makes a good batch. There's no basis to that at all. If you have a very bitter taste, your seeds could have a huge amount of thebaine or a lot of morphine and codeine. Both are alkaloids, both are bitter. You might also be tasting others among the purported 34 alkaloids you'll find in PST. Some say the color can tell you -- yellow to dark-yellow for good stuff, brown for bad. That also has no basis. You can't tell without testing, and I'm sure most of you can't test it. Again, assume the worst.
Finally, go very slowly. It can take up to two hours for peak effects, according to some users. Others have experienced that within half-an-hour. The safest assumption here is that it varies by batch instead of by person. So, always wait a few hours before dosing again. If you don't you could die.
This forum is about harm reduction. I hope that this post can help some people out. It's easy to hurt yourself with PST, as with any opiate, so let's try to prevent that. Know that I neither condone this activity nor judge you for it. Lot's of people are in different, tough places. I post this thread because I know a lot of people will try this, a lot of people have died from it, and it doesn't matter if I just say "don't." I acknowledge that I've not tried PST, and don't intend to, but sometimes reading, research, and an outside perspective can help.
If anyone has corrections or other precautions, let me know, I want this to be about safety.
I've never tried the tea, and don't think I will; I only use opioids for chronic pain, as labeled out on my script. That said, there are a lot of precautions you can take when using poppy seed tea based on research. I've collected some of those here.
I am not a doctor, nor a medical researcher, and should not be treated as such. This information is largely based on anecdotal evidence, and should not be considered absolute, and is anything but sacrosanct. Poppy seed tea (PST) can be dangerous with any precautions, can cause addiction and other adverse effects, and, when used, a user takes full responsibility for the risks. I do not advocate its use, here or anywhere.
First, you are dealing with an opiate here, rather opiates. That said you should follow the ultimate option for harm reduction: don't mix with booze. Second, you can never know the composition of the tea. It may have a lot of morphine, a lot of codeine, or a lot of thebaine. Or it could have none (more on that later). So treat it as though you are taking morphine or codeine: don't stack more morphine or codeine onto it, and avoid lethal combinations. Third, taking it with benzos is a bad idea. Taking benzos with anything you aren't sure of is a bad idea. Those are the rough basics. I know a lot of people have ignored them, but that's why there have been some deaths from PST.
Poppy seeds can contain between 2 and 252 ug of morphine per gram. Forty grams of seeds used for tea can yield up to 10 mg of morphine, or a normal therapeutic dose (oral). That will almost never be the case. You'd need unwashed seeds from plants bred for morphine production. Many seeds these days are washed and come from plants bred for thebaine content, useful for synthesis of hydrocodone, dilaudid, and other semi-synthetics. However, always assume you'll be getting 10 mg of morphine for 40 g of poppies used in PST. 400 g of poppy seeds, or 14.2 oz, could give you an overdose level of morphine. If you drink PST, easy does it. Never consume more than 400 g worth of PST without waiting for a bit; that should give you about 150 mL or, very roughly, 1/2 c of tea. (Edit: the amount of PST can vary considerably based on your preparation method. This is the safe assumption. But don't drink 400 g worth in a go anyway, since 100 mg of morphine is OD level.)
Don't let your tea steep for too long or in hot water. The part of the seed containing opiates are the outside coating, rubbed off from the latex of the pod. That's what PST brewing seeks to dissolve. As the seeds steep or are agitated, water will enter the seed and force out oils from the seed. These oils are toxic in high doses and will make you vomit and be nauseous for hours, according to numerous reports. Hot water better enters the seed, and thus better forces out oils. Ice water, though, won't dissolve the opiates. A mildly acidic solution of about room temperature water (sometimes 60F) has been suggested by users of PST. More than 30 minutes total steeping time for the tea will also cause issues, and this is the sum of all washing times (as in 10-6, 10-6-4, and 15-10-5 will net 16, 20, and 30 minutes, respectively). If you overdo it, you might get more morphine and codeine, but you'll also puke.
PST is also known to cause extremely harsh addictions. I've read that the withdrawal symptoms last for 4-10 days in clinical settings, with vomiting very common. That sounds like a normal opiate, but trust me, the one study I saw along with numerous user-reports talk about the horrible withdrawals. I'm assuming this comes from the insane variation in dosages. That would also mean you could get withdrawal just by having a few bad batches. Edit: morphine-dreams below talks about his withdrawals. They lasted him a month, with a week at the worst of it, worse than anything in his life.
Since different poppy seed producers vary wildly in their products, try a few very cautiously and then stick with one that works with you to try and minimize variation. If you use a lot of tea, mix together bags from the same producer into one big bag (for storage, not direct brewing). This minimizes the variation, but still anticipate a lot of differences between batches for safety.
Some people talk about being able to "tell" what makes a good batch. There's no basis to that at all. If you have a very bitter taste, your seeds could have a huge amount of thebaine or a lot of morphine and codeine. Both are alkaloids, both are bitter. You might also be tasting others among the purported 34 alkaloids you'll find in PST. Some say the color can tell you -- yellow to dark-yellow for good stuff, brown for bad. That also has no basis. You can't tell without testing, and I'm sure most of you can't test it. Again, assume the worst.
Finally, go very slowly. It can take up to two hours for peak effects, according to some users. Others have experienced that within half-an-hour. The safest assumption here is that it varies by batch instead of by person. So, always wait a few hours before dosing again. If you don't you could die.
This forum is about harm reduction. I hope that this post can help some people out. It's easy to hurt yourself with PST, as with any opiate, so let's try to prevent that. Know that I neither condone this activity nor judge you for it. Lot's of people are in different, tough places. I post this thread because I know a lot of people will try this, a lot of people have died from it, and it doesn't matter if I just say "don't." I acknowledge that I've not tried PST, and don't intend to, but sometimes reading, research, and an outside perspective can help.
If anyone has corrections or other precautions, let me know, I want this to be about safety.
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