The following is an expose and not intended to promote illegal drug use. This is just one person’s experience. This follows up after; “Fox News attacks mild use of herbs — poppy pod tea — more lies, more hype!”
–SJ Otto
By Conrad Klondike
It was almost noon. That is when the mail comes. I was waiting for my box. There is something thrilling about anticipating poppy pod tea. The anticipation is almost as good as the high I get from it. Once it gets here I will rip open the box and then go through a lengthy ritual to make my tea.
Once I've drank all the tea it is like being on a vacation—a vacation from all my troubles, stress, pain and just about anything that ails me. It's like being in heaven for about 8 hours. There is really nothing like it.
And of course I'm talking about making a tea from the straw of opium poppies.[1] I can get this stuff because the law allows people to buy the pods for use as craft supplies—mostly for flower arrangements. It took me a while to learn how to unlock the magic of the pods. I learned about it from a friend. I have used narcotics of various types through out my adult life. This is probably the best thing I ever discovered. I don’t have to go look for a dealer or a connection of some kind to some shady criminal. I can just send away from it on line.
I have spent many of my adult years as an alcoholic. I used to smoke pot. I lost interest in pot smoking years ago. And as for alcohol, my health has deteriorated since I have had hepatitis C. I was diagnosed with it about 10 years ago. If they had not come up with new medicine I probably would die within the next five years from now. I was getting sick for a long time. But with new medicine I am now free of the virus that causes hep C. But the damage has already been done. My liver is damaged and I have a hard time with alcohol now. It doesn't relax me as much as it used to. Also if I drink a little too much I black out and don't remember a thing. Over the years I've learned that alcohol is a sloppy drug. It lowers my inhabitations making me talk about things I really shouldn't. It messes with judgment encouraging me to act stupid and make dumb decisions. It also makes me feel spacey and out of it.
Opium does not do those things. Opium makes me feel relaxed. It brings on the feeling of euphoria. I feel pleasant sensations, almost rushes running through my body. Alcohol does some of this, but the negative affects outweigh the good.
Opium doesn't mess as much with my liver and it doesn't make me as sick as alcohol can. I can take the stuff and go to work. I can talk to people and unless they know what to look for, they can't tell I'm high.
So why do I want to use this at all? I've had depression all my life. Maybe that is why I used to drink so much. I've seen doctors and I've taken my share of anti-depressant medicine. It just doesn't work for me. The bottom line is that I just want to feel good. That is all. I'm not looking for some kind of thrills. I'm not trying to gain some great insight or improve my artistic capabilities. I just want to feel good for a while. That is hard for me to do. Unless someone can show me a better way to feel good, I will continue to drink my tea. I don’t have regrets or wish I could get free of the drug, as some addicts will say. I don’t want to be cured from this stuff. I plan to keep using it as long as I can.
In the past I've used all kinds of drugs, from LSD to heroin. I used to get wild and party and go to wild parties. I used to think it was cool to get loaded on booze or drugs. Now I don't care about being cool. I avoid telling anyone I use this stuff. Again I just want to feel good.
I still like the feel of shrooms—not as good as opium, but if I can get it, and it is extremely rare that I do, I like it. I still drink a little, since I can't use the opium more than about once or twice a month, to avoid outright addiction. I have used other narcotics. But the tea last the longest and it is much easier to get that heroin or the many subscription pharmaceutical narcotics such as OxyContin, Vicodin or Dilaudid.
For much of my adult life I've used narcotics of all types at one time or another. So when I found out about the tea, I knew what I was looking for.
I have a crummy job working at a shoe store. It pays lousy with few benefits. I am 63 so I can retire in a few years. Once I retire I don’t have to worry about being drug tested at work. It is getting to the point where having a job is just a liability. There are so many disadvantages to having one, drug testing, a lack of benefits and no job security—who in their right mind really wants to work past retirement?
As I get older my health gets crummier. My sex drive is starting to deteriorate. So spending my golden years loaded on opium just makes a lot of sense.
So once or twice a month I go to the web site that sells me my pods. I order a box for a little over $100. I use my credit card. After I close the deal they ship the box out for overnight service. It takes about two days and I can track it from one postal station to the next, until it makes it to the post office near my home.
When I get my box I tear it open, take some of the pods out, crush them a little, put them in my coffee grinder and then into a pot. I put just enough water, bring it to a boil and let it steep a while. Then I strain the tea through a filter and drink it. It tastes awful, like drinking something made of hay. I don’t bother to put sugar in it as some people do. I just gulp it down fast. I chase it with tomato juice. I get enough pods to get high about four times. Once the drink does its magic I sit back and enjoy it. Sometimes the tea makes me nauseous. But I don’t really care that much. Puking is a small price to pay for such a good experience.
I don’t know how many other people do this. I don’t really care. It is my body and I will decide what goes in it. I don’t need police or moralizing religious fanatics to tell me how I should live. I tried AA when I first found I had hep C. I tried it for a year. I just don’t like being that sober. So after a while I dropped out of the program for good. I’ve never looked back. A sober life is just not for me and I have no intention of living that way. When I first used the tea, I drank it so often I got addicted and eventually went through withdrawals. They lasted a few days. I quit the tea for a while, but I later went back to it. I’m more careful about it now.
Most of all I do what seems to work for me. I can’t speak for others. I don’t care if anyone but me uses the tea. I know at least one other person who uses it as I do. I don’t promote it. What works for others is up to others. I just take care of myself and my own medical needs.
Conrad Klondike, KS .
[1]Poppy tea contains two groups of alkaloids: phenanthrenes (including morphine and codeine) and benzylisoquinolines (including papaverine). Of these, morphine is the most prevalent comprising 8%-14% of the total. Its effects derive from the fact that it binds to and activates mu opioid receptors in the brain, spinal cord, stomach and intestine.
Dried Papaver somniferum capsules and stems will, if harvested and dried by the usual protocol, contain significantly lower quantities of thebaine than opium made from latex as well as somewhat more codeine. When ingested, thebaine causes nausea, vomiting, and myoclonus. Thebaine is an important precursor for manufacture of pharmaceuticals, and is more concentrated in the roots of Papaver somniferum than elsewhere. Other species of poppies, numbering in the hundreds, do not contain morphine or codeine in useful amounts, but may contain non-narcotic alkaloids like protopine, sanguinarine or berberine. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_tea