Here is my interpretation of things I've read over the years(and yes, I've grown them occasionally). Hopefully you will get more replies: Yes Yes Yes Yes Not necessarily...although the flowers can look different, most of the somniferum plants have similar foliage, so it wouldn't take much experience or research to become familiar with the look of the plant. I believe "opium" is correct. I hope this helps.

Hi there! I would love to make a trade with you :) I have 2 trades of coleus that I'd like to trade for your African Foxglove and Coronaria. Please let me know if you're interested. Thanks! Wendy / sassybutterfly_2008

I'd bet you can get helpful advice on the Florida Forum. Best luck, & enjoy your poppies!

Concerning the drug test controversy, and questions, and this actually applies to other instances where a derivative or byproduct of an illegal substance that, in itself, is legal to consume or use, is that most drug tests do not test for the actual component that it shows a positive for, but instead another compound found only in that product, such as the poppy seeds as discussed here, and the use of some OTC preparations which also may contain the specific compound tested for, even though it does not actually contain the opiate in this case. You see testing directly for the alkaloids is a practice in futility since when it is metabolized, the body changes it's makeup, and also breaks it down and eliminates it rather quickly, hence the need to be prescribed "take very 6 hours as needed for pain" so when they formulated these drug tests, they formulated them to test for other longer lasting, indigestible compounds, found only in that particular "source" of the drug in question, so this is why eating (yes it doesn't even take an entire one) poppyseed bagel will test positive, even thought there is really no measurable alkaloids on or in the seeds themselves (opium latex is water soluble, therefore easily washed off)however the seeds DO carry the tested for compound in residual byproducts of the drug's source, and because there is this discrepancy error margin, by law, any company that terminates an employee due to a positive test result, must offer a second "clean" control test before reacting in such a manner, because it is an infringement of your rights, in respect to being treated as guilty before proving it, and this is our guaranteed right, living in this country, that all accused are considered innocent "until" proven guilty, especially where a possibly faulty method of testing was used, such as urinalysis, and even hair sample tests, since they hold results much longer since it is being deposited from within the body as the follicle constructs the hair strand. Because they are not testing for the actual drug's presence, but for the by products left by the body after digesting any portion of that plant, which would result in the actual compound they DO test for. If not for that most people who use would still pass, because the body processes and eliminates most of the original substance within hours, and sometimes days, unless...yes folks there is a but...it is something that can be stored up to a month or more with in the body's fat cells such as the active ingredient in marijuana, however most alkaloids from opiates and from cocaine to salts like amphetamines, are gone much too quickly for the test to ever catch someone, unless they were practically under the influence at the time of the test or a short time after, maybe just over more than a few hours :), I would consider consulting a lawyer anyone who has recently been fired for such a thing when innocent, unless you still failed a second test, or signed a waiver or contract, or possibly "some" areas of government, that you acknowledged this as their policy and therefore within their rights to terminate you, but unless you were a poor performer, it is likely any of these would allow the verification test given completely randomly or possibly on the spot, since it takes a week to get a result anyway, at which time unless someone was a "routined" personality that ever Wednesday is poppy seed bagel day for morning break, then innocent as this type of person may be, they will test positive again and could lose their job at that point, unless he had this bagel with the employer on a weekly basis because such an alibi is proof enough that they were innocent, but whether they notarized, if you will, the employer would no longer have any obligation to pursue proving their innocence and would be within the law to terminate this person, but if after the time needed to retain and consult (maybe backwards order? LOL) an attorney and then get a court date, if they rule in favor of the employee, they would then be responsible for reimbursing all lost wages by the employee, and possible punitive damages such as loss of promotion interest rates that revert to a ridiculous number should you pay late once, or psychological impact, as well as (my favorite one) because the whole ordeal interfered with their ability to perform for their partner in a satisfactory manner, and get boatloads over the lost wages, because this is one of the most rewarding of these types of padded suits that attorneys love to drive for, since the greater the plaintiffs settlement, the greater their commission or percentage they will get. If you are someone who was wrongfully terminated in these circumstances, don't allow an attorney to push you in to anything more than what you feel is fair, and don't be greedy just because you can be, because once back on the (if you even get it back if you went for too much) job, it would only be a matter of time for them to have a legitimate means to terminate you, so unless you perform above the bar, and now so even more than ever, with literally hundreds of people standing so close behind you to take your place you can feel the breath of the third person behind you on the back of your neck, that employers now hold the deck, and ave complete control of the hands being dealt, since many of those people will do it for less money than you are being paid....pretty scary huh? Well i went in to all this for a reason and aside for a flair for a little drama, those who have mentioned the difficulty in paying for pain management, and other "alternately available" means of managing it on their own, even if you need not go for an office visit, most of the prices I know of, and this is the legal, at the pharmacy price, being around a dollar per pill or dose, now lets do the math, take one tab/cap every six hours for pain, and you DO need to take it at that frequency, that's $120.00 a month, and this is usually combined with one or two other "adjunct" therapies, that may not be quite as much, but still significant enough to impact any number of everyday meals or recreation, that can no longer be afforded, despite not being a luxury or delicacy by any measure. The reason we may not see the DEA or more so many local law enforcement representatives may not being as responsive to smaller growers in general, is because quite a number of States, based upon test results from other country's research, have much evidence supporting their medical benefit, or serves as an alternative means of providing for oneself, or it has been illegal but is being reconsidered in this new light and may possibly be just ironing out the specifics of what is a viable allowable amount for personal production and under a permit issued in the form of a prescription by a real doctor (meaning one that actually examined you and ran conclusive tests) at which point you would then be legally allowed to produce the specific plant, or byproduct of the plant, within strict parameters, so point is, people with small personal batches will likely never be noticed if they do not do anything else about it that IS still illegal, such as, selling or even giving it to another, carrying it outside of your home unless in an ingestible form, and so on, I can make more up as we go along but I think I have taken enough for you good people's time, thank you for reading through all this I hope this brings the whole picture together in someone's mind and clears up some og the mystery, as it were, oh just one more thing....I used to watch mythbusters, when it first came on, but after 12 or 15 episodes, I stopped because I found many incidences of missed possibilities in quantifying whether something was in fact a myth, where the results were the ones more likely to get more people to watch the show and not truly crack a myth. Just my two cents on their results, not being "wholly" tested in which case the result would be opposite their conclusion. Ok One question.....how many people really mixed mentos and coke? LOL! TSG!