


You would probably get sick to your stomach before you would get high.”Ī handful of poppy seeds. “But traditionally if it is food grade poppy seeds that the company processed and washed in the correct way, you would really have to eat a lot of poppy seed muffins to get high. “If you made the muffin with some of those unwashed or unprocessed seeds, I wouldn't rule it out,” Swortwood says.

Can poppy seeds get you high?Īs for whether or not these baked goods can get you high as well, Swortwood never says never - but she does say it’s unlikely. To eliminate any risk of a false positive, it’s recommended you hold off on consuming any poppy seed products for at least 48-hours before your drug test. It’s this low level of opiates that can flag drug tests, not because they’re dangerous or high-inducing but simply because the tests are very sensitive. Typically, food-safe poppy seeds are thoroughly washed and processed to remove latex residue, but even then they can still contain small traces of opium. Can you fail a drug test after eating poppy seeds? “What came to our attention a few years ago was that there were companies that were intentionally not washing the seeds, not processing the seeds, so that they could sell seeds that were essentially laced with morphine and codeine,” Swortwood says. And that can just sort of coat or contaminate the seeds and so when the seeds are harvested, they can have morphine and codeine on them.” “That latex is what has the morphine and codeine in it. “When the opium plant is growing it releases this kind of sappy, milky substance called latex,” explains Swortwood. She explains to Inverse the science behind this tiny seed and how it can go from a harmless snack to a dangerous tonic.īeautiful as they may be, poppy flowers contain a potentially deadly substance called latex that is the basis of addictive narcotics like morphine and codeine. Madeleine Swortwood is an assistant professor of forensic toxicology at Sam Houston State University who has researched the intoxicating and potentially deadly effects of poppy seeds. The answer is more complicated than you likely realize. Why can these seeds trigger a false positive? And is it possible that another culinary rumor is true - that eating poppy seeds can actually get you high? While most false positives triggered by poppy seeds can be easily overturned, the National Institute of Drug Abuse suggests skipping a poppy seed snack altogether before a drug test, just to be safe. Swallowing hard, you shrug it off as just more digital misinformation.Ī sprinkling of poppy seeds in a muffin or over a bagel may sound utterly innocent, but the consumption of these seeds is still regularly flagged by urine tests as opium. You pop the final bite of the muffin into your mouth and as you’re chewing begin to remember stories of poppy seeds triggering a false positive on drug tests. Let’s say you ate a far-from-offensive lemon poppyseed muffin before the test. The mandatory drug test for new jobs is controversial for a number of reasons, including the fact that it can be hijacked by your breakfast.
