Drug and Alcohol Testing Q&A - 2004

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Re: Morphine levels and poppy seeds

From: Dr. Steve
Date: 08 Nov 2004
Time: 07:02:07 -0800
Remote Name: 12.10.202.94

Comments

Although in a sense I agree with what you say, the DOT guidelines, in my opinion, are very, very liberal, and have an extra built in layer of protection, namely an opiate physical for levels below 15,000, which non-regulated testing does not have. I find it virtually impossible to see a morphine level of say 14,000 that is attributable to poppy seed ingestion. I have looked at many or most of the literature, and have not seen levels coming close to approaching 15,000 (it is usually less than about 3,000-4,000). Can you point out a reference where you state that levels of 11,000 were reached after ingesting poppy seeds? Thanks.