Drug and Alcohol Testing Q&A - 2004

[ Q&A Home | Contents - 2004 | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]

Re: Morphine levels and poppy seeds

From: Robert Swotinsky MD
Date: 08 Nov 2004
Time: 07:26:10 -0800
Remote Name: 4.17.131.55

Comments

The reference that describes poppy seed ingestion causing a urine morphine level of ~11K ng/mL is: Selavka CM. Poppy seed ingestion as a contributing factor to opiate-positive urinalysis results: The Pacific perspective. J Forensic Sci 36;1991:685-96. While it's true that poppy seed ingestion usually does not exceed 2000 ng/mL, the process is designed to account for outliers, including the possibility of high morphine levels from intense, high-grade poppy seed ingestion.