carolina tv news investigates poppy pods ! (cue ominous music )

[clinton (OP)]

http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/30473492/opiates-disguised-as-crafting-supplies-easily-bought-online


These days, you can order just about anything on the Internet. As it turns out, dangerous drugs are no exception.

 

A tenured college professor, popular with students and respected by peers, had a secret that eventually consumed his life and ended it.

"Something of academic arrogance. He knew he was smart. And he never thought this would get him," said the man's wife, who we are not identifying.

As she struggled to settle her late husband's affairs, the grieving widow was stunned as boxes continued to arrive by mail, almost every day.

"After he died, which I never opened. I know probably what's inside," said the woman.


The customs declaration on the box said "crafting goods," but CBS46's Sally Sears suspects few, if any, of the customers who order this product online actually use the contents in floral arrangements.

"The seeds were all thrown away. He'd crack this thing open and the seeds were thrown away, all the seeds were thrown away. Then, you would get a grinder and grind. And these are very hard pods," said the woman.

Many times, she had watched her late husband make a special kind of tea from the ground poppy pods, a nightly ritual she at first thought was as recreational and harmless.

"[He said] You have some coffee, and I'll make some tea," said the woman.

But over time this habit got worse.

"The usage increased, and as it did it made changes in his temperament," said the woman. "You become so wrapped up in this behavior and not understanding why this person you love more than anyone in the world continues to do it."

She insisted they see a counselor.

"He looked at us and he said to my husband, 'You had better quit taking these or you will die,'" said the woman.

Sadly, the counselor was right. The beloved husband and teacher suffered a massive coronary. The death certificate lists opium addiction as contributing to heart failure.

Can it be so easy to purchase opium on the Internet? In a matter of minutes, Sears found one website after another claiming to sell floral arrangements. Poppy pods are the main thing they are selling -- sometimes the only thing.

Sears ordered randomly from three different companies. Each promised speedy delivery, and each lived up to that promise.

Sears opened the first box with renowned drug addiction specialist Dr. Paul Early and he confirmed the flower husks contain morphine and codeine. To put it bluntly, heroin.       

"Highly addictive drugs, readily available, is always a bad idea," said Early. "Opiates cause a general sense of peace and tranquility."

But that sense of peace and tranquility doesn't last. It soon becomes a hungry monster that's harder and harder to feed.

"It's like having the worst case of the flu with doom on top of it," said Early. "It's an awful experience."

"The problem with these pods is they're getting more people exposed in a way that seems to be innocuous. 'Well, I bought it over the internet, didn't I? And, it's natural, isn't it?  It's just a plant.'  But, it is highly addictive," said Early.

Early agrees there can't be enough legitimate crafters to support this kind of demand for poppy pods in floral arrangements. The fact that most arrive without stems is also a bit suspicious.

"They are for flower arrangements,and decorations. The boxes always say decorations, table arrangements. But they don't even have the long sticks most of the time. All you're getting is the pod," said the woman.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration answered these questions for CBS46.

1.  U.S. Mail from Internet sites selling dried opium poppy pods...

"Yes, there are illicit websites which offer dried opium pods. We have no quantifiable national number of such shipments and DEA DOES NOT TRACK THIS. There have been several individual incidents of such trafficking reported in the past decade, but law enforcement reporting suggests only minimal amounts of opium pods are trafficked via the web.  A lack of demand likely accounts for that. (current heroin / pharmaceutical opiate availability levels assists to make such demand exceedingly low)."

2.  Opium pods sold under the idea the pods are for floral decorating...

"Yes, due to some nuances in local laws, some amounts of dried opium pods are sold for decorative purposes (primarily for holiday decorations) in several Western states."

3.  Opium pods contain high levels of morphine and codeine...

"It is reported that Poppy pods contain some level of morphine. The final level of solutions created from pods would depend of several factors that DEA does not control." 

4.  Poppy pod tea made from the pods, not the seeds, is a powerful source of narcotics…

"I have no institutional knowledge in Poppy POD TEA but according to open-source reporting a tea brewed from pods can contain high levels of morphine (generally higher than brewed using poppy seeds). We have no DEA information on this." 

5. Difficulty of not of tracking these shipments and shutting them down…

"Drug trafficking via the Web is a complicated issue, but one that has been / is being addresses by federal/state/ local LE.
In past three years, major DEA operations have shattered three major illicit "Dark Web" sites including the so-called SILK ROAD."

[Opus]

Fox "news" talking some sensationalist bullshit? Who'da thunk??

Funny how they don't mention that those same pods will grow just about anywhere in the US, and that FAR more people use prescription morphine than people making pod tea..

[thetalkingasshole]

"The pods contain morphine and codeine. Blunty: heroin."

WAAAAOOOAAAWWWWW

[corlene]

Don't hate on the new hillbilly heroin^ lol

[10kites]

The death certificate said "Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms", so it was'nt  doing the tea that got him, it was not doing the tea that did him in. They told that story all wrong.

[makita]

The death certificate said "Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms", so it was'nt  doing the tea that got him, it was not doing the tea that did him in. They told that story all wrong.

I KNEW it!  I knew when they said that shit that either it was bullshitting on the part of the coroner (who should damn well know opiates dont cause heart attacks) or that it was WDs that caused his heart attack.

What an irresponsible counselor; "stop taking these or you'll die" actually stopping was what killed him.  So basically his wife got what she wanted, be careful what you wish for.

Ugh I know she's grieving I just have so little patience for people who become sanctimonious about drugs after someone close to them dies, especially when they have their information completely wrong as in this case.  Many of these white kids dying of overdoses are doing it because their families made them get clean and there was no built in support or tolerance for relapse, therefore the kid uses alone with no tolerance and then he fucking dies.  If I had a kid who was using opiates I would be much more scared of him getting clean than I would be of him going on methadone or suboxone, yet most families its the other way around. 

[Dhedmo]

When I saw the title of this thread I actually pictured two broadcasters sampling the tea, and after a short burst of conversational euphoria nodding off on the set. Instead it was sad.

[Narkotikon]

Yeah, this article is just sensationalist bullshit.  It's also inaccurate.  The coronary incident was caused by opiate w/d.  Opiates themselves didn't cause the heart attack.  It was the addiction, then the w/d, that lead to the heart attack.  Had he been tapered off, or continued to use, this wouldn't have happened. 

Boxes coming every day?  Damn!  Must have had a huge habit  Must have had a lot of money too, especially since pods cost so much nowadays.  I'm also guessing the pods came from the UK.  They're cheaper and better than US pods, but still pricey. 

This type of article will just heighten the awareness of pod tea, similar to what Confessions of an Ebay Opium Addict did.  More people will try it, some will OD, more attention, etc.  Just makes it more likely for pods to be taken seriously by LE. 

[Morfy]

And now we wait for ~every curious teenager that watched that hard-hitting report to order pods, online, grind them up, then make a tea out of them--just like CBS46 explained in detail.


Then come the teenage ODs.


Then come the lawsuits AGAINST CBS46 for wrongful death; CBS46 files for bankruptcy, and assets are dissolved.


Then, when In-Depth Fox39 Reporter Megan Jangleberry wants to do a hard-hitting journalistic piece about Poppy Seed Tea a month later; her managers shut her down, learning from the mistakes made by CBS46.


Too bad, Megan Jangleberry WOULD HAVE won a Local Prune-Whistle Award for her story.