The Claim: Eating Poppy Seeds Can Make You Fail a Drug Test

NY Times ^ | January 11, 2005 | ANAHAD O'CONNOR

[neverdem]

The Claim: Eating Poppy Seeds Can Make You Fail a Drug Test">

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January 11, 2005

REALLY?

The Claim: Eating Poppy Seeds Can Make You Fail a Drug Test

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

HE FACTS Heroin, a highly addictive drug, and poppy seeds, a pleasant and widely used cooking ingredient, derive from the same source, the opium poppy. This has led to a widespread belief that eating poppy seeds before a drug test is not a great idea.

But do poppy seeds really register in urine tests as opiates?

Absolutely, experts say.

Eating a couple of bagels heavily coated with poppy seeds can result in morphine in a person's system for hours, leading a routine drug test to come back positive. A subsequent test can rule out heroin, though not other opiates, by looking for a specific metabolite, 6-acetylmorphine.

But someone who has a poppy-seed bagel for breakfast and is tested later that day would still have far lower levels of morphine than a person who, for example, abuses painkillers. For that reason, the federal government recently raised the threshold for opiates in workplace testing, to 2,000 nanograms a milliliter from 300. Dr. Timothy P. Rohrig of the Regional Forensic Science Center in Kansas said eating three large bagels covered in poppy seeds could push a person over the old opiate threshold, though probably not the new one.

If someone tests well above the 2,000 limit and "tries to explain it by saying she ate 15 bagels for lunch, it would sound absurd," Dr. Rohrig said. But a person with a cold who claimed to use cough syrup with an opiate like codeine might be more believable, he said.

THE BOTTOM LINE Poppy seeds can affect the outcome of a drug test.

[ScottFromSpokane]

When I used to sell plasma back in my college days, they wouldn't let you take the drug test if you'd eaten anything with poppy seeds in it.

[ProudVet77]

It has to be true, otherwise it would not have been mentioned on Seinfeld.

[Roberts]

A friend of mine "failed" a drug test after being hired for a new job, told that he tested positive for heroin. He ate poppyseed bagels for breakfast several times a week. He was no heroin addict.

[KJC1]

Interesting.
I think I need new glasses, though, because at first I read the headline as "clam-eating poppy seeds."

[Calpernia]

Yup. It is true.

I worked at Hoffmann La Roche for a few years. Started in RBL (drug testing) and worked my way into DRA (drug creation).

We had many disclaimers with the business drug testing kits and poppy seeds.

Eating poppies will affect the tests.

[Calpernia]

Now that is a fun bump!

[HungarianGypsy]

This is news? I still remember how cruel I felt when my I made poppy seed cakes, then had my husband inform me he was taking a drug test at work the next day. I did save him some for after the test, though.

[stlnative]

I love lemon poppy seed cake with real lemon icing on it.

I can imagine that nice piece of lemon poppy seed cake has just as many if not more poppy seeds than a bagel.

[Jeff Gordon]

The Discovery Channel's MythBusters show did a piece testing whether poppy seeds could cause a false positive on an over-the-counter drug test. Two people were tested for opiates before the experiment began. Both tested negative on this initial test. One person then ate three poppy seed bagels and the other ate poppy seed cake. Both tested positive for opiates within 30 minutes of ingesting the seeds and continued to test positive until 16 hours after ingestion. The same brand of drug test was used in all cases. They called a number of manufacturers of over-the-counter drug tests and were told by all but one that poppy seeds could not cause a false positive.

[Straight Vermonter]

That is the best show on TV.

[Quix]

Eating poppies will affect the tests.

Is it the same with mommies?

[Could have resisted but it's late and i'm in a silly mood]

[mysto]

Poppies... poppies will put them to sleep...

[FreeKeys]

Thanx. I needed the grins.

[NordP]

So it WAS the poppy seeds!!!

[razorback-bert]

Try this one second hand smoke kills, but second hand "smoke" will not cause a positive on a drug test.

[Quix]

U R welcome. I think I needed grins, too.

[NordP]

Poppy got sloppy.

[byset]

Does this mean that eating 15 poppy seed bagels for lunch packs a decent buzz?

[pillbox_girl]

The lesson here: Do not submit to a drug test! You do not need the job so badly as to tolerate this invasion of your privacy. The only reason companies require drug teste is because the majority of sheeple bend over and tolerate it. If more people stuck to their rights, corporations would not shove this stuff down our throats.

I do not require my employees to take a drug test. What they do on their own time is their business. If they show up to work in no condition to do their jobs, that is a different matter. Thus far, I have only had one incapacitated employee issue, and that was the result of alchohol use (which is perfectly legal).