[Genesisman]

For the Newby... of which I are one.....

Dear Cecil:

Can eating foods with poppy seeds (i.e., bagels, muffins, etc.) really cause someone to fail a routine corporate drug test? I've heard the answer is yes, but I am a skeptic. Aren't drug tests specialized? Are they really testing for opium, which I understand to be the only drug made from the poppy? And even if the test did search for opium, wouldn't the number of poppy seeds needed to make even a minute amount of opium be far greater than that in the foods we eat poppy seeds in? Help! --Peter Schilling, Minneapolis

Dear Peter:

Let's not beat around the bush. The answer to your question is yes--eating a couple of poppy seed rolls, bagels, etc., can cause you to fail a routine drug test. This news will produce one of two reactions, depending on whether you're a law-abiding citizen or a drug fiend:

1. Panic (if law-abiding citizen): "I could lose my job by eating breakfast!"
2. Elation (if drug fiend): "I could keep my job by claiming I ate breakfast!"

So the real corporate drug test is to tell your employees about poppy seeds and watch their reactions. The happy ones get the ax.

At this point you figure I'm going to say: whoa, relax! A drug-testing lab is savvy enough to be able to distinguish between muffin eaters and opium addicts.

Uh-uh. While many drug testers and researchers claim they can separate "false positives" from the real thing, other researchers dispute this. Sure, some guy with pinhole pupils and a tendency to walk into walls is going to have a hard time claiming he got that way due to excessive bagel consumption. The fact remains that if you got fired due to a borderline positive and had no follow-up tests or corroborating signs of drug use, a good lawyer would be able to cram that drug test--and your pink slip--down your bosses' throats. Currently, 87 percent of positives are reversed on follow-up.

This murky situation may not last long, though. Largely because of the poppy seed problem, the federal test threshold for morphine and codeine will probably be raised in late 1998 from 300 nanograms per millileter to 2,000. The feds figure they might miss a few drug abusers but they'll eliminate most of the false positives. No doubt many corporate drug testers will follow suit.

Now let's take some questions from the floor.

Q: You're telling me the poppy seeds in baked goods come from the same type of poppy used to make opium?

A: Maybe not all, but a lot of them do. Of the 90 or so species of poppy, one, Papaver somniferum, is commonly used for two things: drugs and food. In the U.S. possession of opium poppies with intent to grow more is a crime. But possession of opium poppy seed is perfectly legal--in fact, you can (or could) buy opium poppy seeds from gardening catalogs. (But God help you if you try to grow anything with them--see Michael Pollan's scary article on this subject in the April 1997 Harper's). So-called bread-seed poppies (P. paeoniflorum) are also legal, though botanically they're the same as P. somniferum.

Q: You mean I could get high eating poppy seed rolls?

A: No, goofball, I said they might make you flunk a drug test. The amount of morphine and codeine in poppy seeds varies enormously. One study found that Dutch, Czech, and Turkish poppy seed contained minimal opiates, Australian seed was up there, and Spanish seed sounded like it should be sold by creepy-looking guys on street corners. But, while test volunteers who ate poppy seed products sometimes flunked urine tests, nobody really got what you could call stoned. (Possible exception: one volunteer who ate 23 grams of seeds was accused of "giggling and acting silly.") You're limited by the fact that the poppy seeds are usually contained in food--you get full long before you get high.

Still, if you're desperate enough there are ways to get a buzz from poppies. In parts of England prior to World War II, tea made from boiled poppy heads was recommended as a way to cure what ails you, or at least not get overly concerned about it. Poppy tea has come back into favor among UK drug users in recent years, and some people have reportedly become addicted to the stuff. One guy boiled 14 poppy heads daily, which he obtained from florists. Another addict was a baker who each day drank two liters of tea made from four kilograms of poppy seed. His secret was discovered when he went into convulsions. Serves him right. Even the Bible warns about bad seed.

--CECIL ADAMS

[ibamars]

NO

[Splitter]

Years ago, I asked the same question when I had to do a random. The nurse couldn't give me a definite answer, so she wrote down on the paper that I had eaten a couple of poppyseed muffins from Costco that day. My test came back clean!

[Uturn2001]

The Mythbusters just had a show on a few weeks ago about this very subject. The verdict was that, yes indeed, eating poppy seeds could produce a positive reading on a drug test. It was also found that it took about 36 hours for the poppy seed results to clear their systems.

[Twilight Flyer]

Also, it appears that the Q&A in the first post was from 10 years or so ago. The testing has been considerably refined in the last decade. Back then, you could rather easily get a false positive from eating poppyseed bagels or muffins. Today, it's rather rare.

[Useless]

If in doubt, just stay away from the poppy seeds.

It seems that when you ask 20 different people about this, you are going to get about 20 different answers.

I will say that I am very skeptical when it comes to some people's explanation of why they tested positive. I remember a guy named "AllenVW" who came here saying that he tested positive because someone put hemp oil in his salad.

Then he went on to start several different threads about how drug testing should be ended, and giving rather lengthy dissertations on how pot was really harmless and should be legalized.

I never will forget the "petition" that he started. I think that he rounded up almost a half dozen signatures. Some signers were rather famous, too.

Lem'me see if I can remember....Cheech, Chong,..... Dr. Timothy Leary, Mary Poppins,....... Gilligan, ...... oh, yeah, and I think he signed it as well!!

[Drakmare]

Arnt urine tests sort of being phased out these days? Ive done my share of drug screens lately searching for work and they have all done "hair samples" Nurses tell me that the hair somples are slowly becoming the norm because they are so accurate and produce pretty lengthy timelines

Me being the simple buzzed head kind, they snipped the hair from my pitts :P


Nurse says "Ok Mr. No hair I can take this sample from 1 of 2 places, your Arm pitt or your crack?"

I raised my arms

-Drak

[Twilight Flyer]

Nurse says "Ok Mr. No hair I can take this sample from 1 of 2 places, your Arm pitt or your crack?"

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

[ken_o]

why could it not come from your chest, leg or face im not a scientist so some one explain why it would need to come from the crac or your arm pit. Did you have no facial or body hair to speak of. I think by twenty one eveyone gots hair somewhere.
With no urine test how will they check for ketones.

[Drakmare]

Actually it can come from your Head,Pitt,Chest and I guess your butt? Arms and Legs are a no go.

Something about how the blood travels through your system and how different parts with hair pick up different concentrations of chemicals in your body as it grows

If that makes sense?

Hair had to be at least 1.5" long and they needed 100 hairs for a sample. My chest doesnt grow hair very long sooooo pitt it was......she wasnt getting near my netherland!!