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From: Robert Swotinsky MD
Password: orange
Date: 26 Feb 2008
Time: 08:44:58 -0800
Remote Name: 68.184.42.162
The poppy seed explanation does not explain this positive hair test result. Limited data suggest that poppy seed ingestion can cause morphine-positive hair test results as high as 48 pg/mg [Hill V, et al. Multiple aspects of hair analysis for opiates: Methodology, clinical and workplace populations; codeine, and poppy seed ingestion. JAT. 2005;29:969-703]. The test presented in this thread used cutoffs of 500 pg/mg, which exceeds the peak reported morphine level ten-fold, and thus appears implausible.
Poppy pods are a natural source of opium and the raw material for heroin. I'm not sure of the legal status of this product in the US. Google search it and you'll find examples of law enforcement confiscating poppy pods in large quantities. Perhaps poppy pods are like hallucinogenic mushrooms, home-grown marijuana, and certain other natural but illicit products. It doesn't at all sound like ingestion of poppy seeds as an incidental food additive.