Poppy seed tea causes student death

Less than two months ago, 20-year-old Alex McGuiggan, a student at the University of Colorado, died after drinking tea made from poppy seeds and pods. 

McGuiggan’s roommate legally bought the pods online and illegally brewed them into a tea; McGuiggan and his roommate drank two cups each.  Alex soon went to sleep and never woke up; his roommate was unharmed.  Autopsy results confirmed that Alex died from a morphine overdose.  Alex was not a chronic drug user – this was his first experience.  

“One person does not know what dose will be deadly,” said Krista Medina, a psychology professor at the University of Cincinnati. Medina teaches a “Brain on Drugs” course.
It is not illegal to possess the pods, but when steps are taken to extract opium from them and process them into tea, illegalities ensue.

Poppy pods have very innocent uses, from being used in dried floral arrangements to crafts; they can be found in more places than one might think.

In the Greater Cincinnati area, of 15 floral and garden shops surveyed, only one in Colerain sells the pods.  The owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said “within the last year we have halted the sale of marigold seeds as well as sage for their use by teens as hallucinogens.” 

The owner had no idea of the dangers of the poppy pods. 

The seemingly harmless pods can be purchased easily on eBay and other Web sites. 

The pods vary in size and potency; with different varieties come dramatic variances of toxicity in dosages.  In the case of nicotine, alcohol and marijuana it is much easier to control manageable doses.  That is not the case with opiates – the drug class that includes opium, morphine and heroine.  It takes a much lower dose to be lethal.

Opium poppy pods come from plants that produce opium, which can be transformed into morphine and heroin.  There is no way to determine if too much opium has been produced to cause an overdose. The nonfatal effects of opiates include nausea and itching.

Although the poppy seed tea incident is almost unheard of, prescription medication abuse is the number one cause of death in regards to drugs.

“Morphine is ten times as strong as opium,” Medina said.

Medina also conducted a study of 200 UC students in correlation to drug use.

According to the study, “Twenty percent said they had used prescription pain relievers (such as OxyContin, Demoral, Vicodin) for non-medical use within the last year.”

Within the general population of the United States, “5 percent of Americans reported past use of painkillers for non-medical reasons within the last year.”

If someone ingests opiates and cannot be awakened, call 9-1-1 and get them to a hospital immediately. Charcoal can be given to clear the stomach, only if the drug has not yet enter the brain through its circulation in the blood stream.  Naloxone is the only proven anecdote and will block morphine from having an effect on the brain.

The three main symptoms of an opiate overdose include coma, depression of respiration (shallow breathing) and pinpoint pupils (which also happens when someone is high on opiates). 

“It is really important to get this information out there on how dangerous opiates actually are, although they seem very innocent in the form of tea, one cup could land you dead,” Medina said.