Editor:
Re: “Thieves’ harvest,” Letters, Aug. 16.
Can Linda Fisher really be totally unaware that her “breadseed poppy” is also known as the “opium poppy,” or Papaver somniferum? Does it not occur to her that the poppy seed heads were almost certainly stolen in the somewhat naive hope of producing opium or some derivative opiate drug from the white, milky latex that bleeds from the pod when slashed?
In Canada, commercial cultivation of Papaver somniferum is illegal, except for scientific research. As a home gardener, I’m sure Linda is not breaking the law. Nevertheless, to judge from her account of the abundance of the breadseed/opium poppy she nurtures in her garden, she may be strewing irresistible temptation in the path of those prepared to do so.
Bill Terry, Sechelt
