Opium - The Law

The Law

Opium is a Schedule II controlled substance. Its only legal use is in a few rarely used prescription drugs, such as paregoric. Any other possession or sale of opium carries strict penalties that vary from state to state but almost always include heavy fines, permanent criminal records, mandatory detoxification, drug testing, and loss of privileges such as driver's licenses. Second offenses almost always result in lengthy jail sentences. Third offenses can earn someone a lifetime behind bars.

To the dismay of some gardeners, it is also illegal to grow opium poppies in the United States, even in small numbers. A single poppy plant can yield up to 80 milligrams of raw opium. (Other species of poppy remain available to the backyard gardener.) In July of 2004, UPI NewsTrack reported that three people were arrested and prosecuted in Pella, Iowa, for growing 22, 000 poppy plants among rows of vegetables on a farm. The people were charged with manufacturing a controlled substance, even though the poppies had not yet ripened.

Elsewhere in the world, agents from the United Nations, various European countries, and the United States work with government officials in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other poppy-producing regions, to kill poppy plants. Poppy reduction programs require the cooperation of governments where the illegal activity takes place. They also must offer some financial alternative to the farmers who earn money from the opium harvest. Many difficult issues must be faced if the notorious opium poppy—the source of so many beneficial medicines—is to be restricted to legal production.