Poppy husk refers to the hull of the ripe fruit of the poppy.
(Image source: Internet)
Because poppy husks are native to opium and heroin and are toxic, they have always been subject to strict regulation.
At the end of August this year, the Lianyungang police received a report from the public that the taste of the products sold by a local cold leather shop was very abnormal.
It turned out that the citizen often bought food at this store, and the more he ate, the more addicted he became.
At first, he didn't feel anything was wrong.
It wasn't until a while ago, when he saw the publicity and popular science in food safety that some foods may be filled with poppy shells as a seasoning, that he suddenly realized that he doubted whether the store he often ate would do the same [1].
(Source: CCTV)
So, he called the police with the cold skin that had not yet been eaten.
Soon, the test results came out, and the cool skin did contain components such as papaverine and nacotin.
The reason why the shopkeeper added poppies to the spices was also very simple: during the epidemic, the business was deserted, and he came up with this crooked idea.
No one expected that a customer who had seen popular science actually cracked a poppy case.
(Image source: soogif)
It is not known how many consumers were "drugged" in this way during this period.
In addition to unscrupulous businessmen taking the initiative to add or grow poppies in food, many people who lack legal knowledge often inadvertently grow poppies.
A peasant woman in Fuyang planted more than 600 poppies in order to stack steamed buns to eat[2].
(Source: Fuyang News Network)
As everyone knows, poppy cultivation is a felony, and once it is found, it is punishable by corresponding criminal punishment.
In addition, some medicines contain poppy ingredients.
For example, cough medicines containing codeine/morphine, codeine and morphine as "brothers" are extracted from poppies.
Codeine and morphine have respiratory inhibiting effects, and after taking these drugs, side effects such as hyperhidrosis and emotional agitation may occur, and in severe cases, it may be difficult to breathe, and even fatal [3].
Cough medicines containing codeine or morphine are usually banned in children and pregnant women, so when taking relevant cough medicines, we must use drugs under the guidance of a doctor or pharmacist, and do not arbitrarily change the dosage.
To be clear, consuming a small amount of poppy is not addictive. Of course, we're not saying that poppies can be easily consumed!
Long-term consumption of poppies will produce a strong dependence, may be accompanied by cold sweat, yellow face muscle thin and other symptoms.
When symptoms are severe, the damage is more obvious, such as damage to the nervous system, digestive system, etc. [4].
Therefore, how to distinguish whether poppy ingredients are added to food is very important.
We can judge from the following aspects.
If you are particularly obsessed with, or even addicted to, a certain food outside, and miss it a day without eating it, you must be careful.
At the beginning of eating foods with poppies, symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, flushing and sleep disturbances will occur.
If you find an unknown spice suspected of poppy shells or poppy seeds in food, be careful and call the police if necessary. As shown in the following figure:
(Image source: Internet)
The picture below shows that it is easy to be misunderstood and lie on the gun of the spice - grass fruit
Although we can't ensure that all merchants can stick to their original intentions and not add poppies, we still hope that merchants can understand that expecting to increase sales by adding poppies is not a long-term solution, and will bear corresponding legal responsibilities. With this in mind, it is better to use it on their own products.
Special Author: Xu Hao
Neurosurgeon, Popular Science V
Reviewers:
Fang Jian
Deputy Pharmacist of the Department of Pharmacy, Huadu District People's Hospital of Guangzhou
Ou Xueling
Doctoral supervisor and chief forensic physician of forensic science
bibliography
[1]https://www.who.int/news/item/27-07-2021-who-reports-progress-in-the-fight-against-tobacco-epidemic
[2] Bohadana A, Freier-Dror Y, Peles V, Babai P, Izbicki G. Extending varenicline preloading to 6 weeks facilitates smoking cessation: A single-site, randomised controlled trial. EClinicalMedicine. 2020 Feb 3;19:100228.
[3] Kotz D, Batra A, Kastaun S. Smoking Cessation Attempts and Common Strategies Employed. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2020 Jan 6;117(1-2):7-13.
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