but never had as much fun as this dude.
Reno News and Review March 17, 2005
...Dried poppy pods, available to “flower arrangers” in eBay's virtual “crafting” aisle, were the raw ingredient of the putrid concoction, at first barely consumable, later all-consuming....Some, called gigantheums, were as big as tennis balls. A special of “600 XXL-sized gigantheums” were selling for $399. Fortunately, for crafting projects requiring so many poppy plants, financing was available for $17 per month. For all of us hardcore flower-arrangers, of course.
The recipe was simple enough. Hot water and crushed poppies. A blender and a strainer or an old T-shirt to squeeze out the pulp. I ordered a few dozen dried flowers from a seller with more than 3,000 positives and a clever handle that was a clear double-entendre on horticulture and getting high.
for a good 'how-to', check out:
“Opium for the Masses: A Practical Guide to Growing Poppies and Making Opium” (Jim Hogshire)
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update on the topic, see Michael Pollan's 1997 Harper's Magazine article about the quasi-legality of growing poppies, and also John Wilcock's account of Jim Hogshire's problems with the DEA.
Tags: drugs
Man, Harper's ran an article a couple years back about a guy who got hooked on Ebay poppies and wrecked his life.
I don't think this is the same article, but who knows. It is from 2005.
I remember reading Jim Hogshire's article in Harpers in 2001-02, probably an excerpt from his book, but don't recall him discussing eBay.
It might be the same piece. The tone is quite similar (though I don't recall the ending, and I don't remember the author using a pseudonym).
Perhaps one or the other is/was plagiarized? Too damnably lazy to go to the Liberry and figure it out.
Like some pack-rat fool, I keep all issues of Harper's for some reason. Remember approximately what time period?
Much as I'm a mind expanding guy (career pothead), I think it should be mentioned that opium is addictive as heroin and can really fuck you up. I knew some old opium addicts when I was in Osan, South Korea. By old I mean in their forties, but they looked 75, had little control of bladder and bowels, and their skin was this parchment color (for Asians that's saying something), and their brains were oatmeal. Opium is dangerous stuff. Hell of a buzz though, and the taste is sooooooooo sweet. Heh ...
No, you're right, Fixer. User beware, for all drugs. Not all are good for all to dabble with.
Well, it was reading that article that led to my discovery of online s.div. Maybe Spring/Summer/Fall 2005? Probably not worth too much digging.