If you value your driver’s license, avoid eating food containing poppy seeds for at least a few days before driving! This conclusion can be drawn from the recent decision of the Supreme Court, which dealt with the complaint of a citizen named Alexander Startsev.
The latter asked to exclude poppy seeds for confectionery from the official list of narcotics in force in Russia. Previously, he was engaged in the delivery of food and spices, including poppy seeds, from Novosibirsk to Chita. A few years ago, local police arrested him for drug trafficking, with traces of morphine and codeine found in the poppy seeds he sold. Alexander is still in pre-trial detention and risks a prison sentence of several decades.
Now the Supreme Court has effectively confirmed that the dealer is standing for his business: selling ‘dope’. It follows that eating poppy in one form or another is effectively equivalent to taking drugs. After all, at least a small amount is present in absolutely all poppy seeds, including food.
The gourmet will of course feel no signs of intoxication after his scone and tea. But in addition, a certain amount of opiate substances, objectionable from a legal point of view, will end up in his body. Yes, there will be very few. But the testing systems that doctors use today to detect drugs are very sensitive. With their help, they “catch” even very weak traces of the use of all kinds of bad substances.