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One can still buy Papaver Somniferum pods at craft stores (including the biggies like A.C. Moore & Michael's although Michael's paint theirs), florists, etc. for decorative use in flower arranging. One only has to do a google search for poppy pods to see the vast array of papaver somniferum poppy pods available for sale at mainstream dried-floral and craft supply stores for use in creating dried floral arrangements and wreaths.
That seller on EBay (the story said) was selling papaver somniferum for "decorative" purposes. And my nearby university (on state land) has papaver somniferum in the landscape plan that they've been using for at least ten years. Every spring, students always steal and slice the pods.
If you read the law in its exact wording, all these sellers and that university are violating the same subsection of the Controlled Substances Act.
Selective prosecution is unconstitutional under the "Equal Protection" Ninth Amendment. Imagine the outcry if they charged every single person growing poppies with 20 years of prison and a million dollar fine.
DEA's technology to track down pot growers from the air could be adapted to find poppies. Field agents could be sent out to grab samples from gardens for analysis, and everyone growing papaver somniferum could be indicted for felony "production." And why isn't A.C. Moore charged under the drug kingpin law? What they're (apparently) still doing on a massive scale is no different than what Mr. Lev-Twombly got arrested for doing (on a tiny scale). I mean, come on ... the DEA bought 700 pods from him between July 2000 and January 2003. So they had that "operation" going on for two and a half years? What a great use of our tax dollars.
And florist shops still sell dried papaver somnniferum pods by the box (usually 12 x 12, or 144, stems and pods per case). So that means that the DEA could have bought just one box from Mr. Lev-Twombly every five months. Walk down to the florist district in New York City and anyone can pick out pods and have multiple boxes delivered the same day. They could be doing that every week. I know this because i know someone who used to (years ago) assemble dried floral arrangements as part of his/her business. As far as they could tell from the labels on the boxes coming from The Netherlands, the species was usually claimed to be papaver somniferum.
So if someone said they were selling cannabis buds for "decorative purposes" do you think that defense would get them acquitted? Well, there's really no difference under the law. Selective prosecution is scary, because it means that the authorities can use a law to go after whoever they want. That's called Tyranny in some history books.
They do it for doctors prescribing pain meds. And they do it for pain patients. Don't think that this case doesn't mean anything to you.
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