Chapter 6 - Poppy Seed Defense and Workplace Drug Testing: Does It Work in the Court?

Abstract

In general, morphine is the most abundant alkaloid found in raw opium, followed by noscapine, codeine, papaverine, and thebaine. Morphine, codeine, and thebaine are also found in the opium poppy latex. Opium alkaloids are not found in poppy seeds but are transferred onto the seed coats during harvesting process. As a result, alkaloid content of poppy seeds varies widely with morphine content ranging from 0.1 to 620mg/kg of seeds and codeine content varying from 0.08 to 57.1mg/kg of seeds. In general morphine content is significantly higher than codeine. As a result both morphine and codeine are found in urine of subjects eating poppy seed–containing foods. However, both morphine and codeine levels are relatively low in urine after eating poppy seed–containing food because more than 90% morphine present in raw poppy seeds are destroyed during food processing especially baking. Therefore, it is unlikely that after eating poppy seed–containing food, a person will test positive for opiates during immunoassay screening where cutoff concentration for opiate is 2000ng/mL. Moreover, the presence of 6-monoacetylmorphine, a marker of heroin abuse, is not consistent with eating poppy seed–containing food.