# Can I buy heroin dirt cheap anywhere in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745 "2015-10-25T18:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/21 "2015-10-28T09:24:57Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > In the United States cultivation is illegal. Opium is listed as a Schedule II controlled substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration. In addition, “Opium poppy and poppy straw” are also prohibited… About a year ago I was reading something on the web about that. About how “opium poppy” and “California poppy” are really pretty much the same thing. And about how poppy seed pods were sold to florists to include in bouquets, and how you could make poppy tea from them, and about how this guy wrote a book about stuff like that, and about how he was raided by the guys in black flack jackets, and lost his lease, and went on the run, and about how the DEA had cracked down on the florists a bit, and discouraged them from using poppy seed pods. All good clean fun, but we don’t get poppies much here, except in Tasmania. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/22 "2015-10-28T13:54:33Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > About a year ago I was reading something on the web about that. About how “opium poppy” and “California poppy” are really pretty much the same thing. And about how poppy seed pods were sold to florists to include in bouquets, and how you could make poppy tea from them, and about how this guy wrote a book about stuff like that, and about how he was raided by the guys in black flack jackets, and lost his lease, and went on the run, and about how the DEA had cracked down on the florists a bit, and discouraged them from using poppy seed pods. > > All good clean fun, but we don’t get poppies much here, except in Tasmania. You see them in a lot of gardens around here, and I am sure that most people have no idea that they are one little step away from breaking the law. I read one account which basically said they are legal as long as you don’t process them in any way (making tea, scoring the seed pod) OR, in one of those odd quirks of the law, call them opium poppies. That last bit is to say, if you put a sign up selling your garden poppies, fine. But if your sign said “Opium Poppies” you’d be guilty of a crime. I don’t know why, but I get great amusement out of such things. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/23 "2015-10-28T14:03:06Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > 1. Is heroin really, really cheap anywhere in the world? > > Thanks, > hh The only places I’ve heard specific prices bandied about are Pittsburgh and NYC. Heroin is pretty inexpensive in those two places. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/24 "2015-10-28T14:47:16Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > About a year ago I was reading something on the web about that. About how “opium poppy” and “California poppy” are really pretty much the same thing. And about how poppy seed pods were sold to florists to include in bouquets, and how you could make poppy tea from them, and about how this guy wrote a book about stuff like that, and about how he was raided by the guys in black flack jackets, and lost his lease, and went on the run, and about how the DEA had cracked down on the florists a bit, and discouraged them from using poppy seed pods. Why isn’t there a booming black market trade garden poppies? There’s a huge black market for oxycontin and drugs like it. People cook meth all over the place. Marijuana is secretly grown in forests. So why isn’t there a similar effort done with poppies to create illegal homemade heroin? It’s hard to believe the drug users just don’t know about it when all sorts of drug info is circulated around like how to make meth and stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/25 "2015-10-28T15:10:37Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Why isn’t there a booming black market trade garden poppies? There’s a huge black market for oxycontin and drugs like it. People cook meth all over the place. Marijuana is secretly grown in forests. So why isn’t there a similar effort done with poppies to create illegal homemade heroin? It’s hard to believe the drug users just don’t know about it when all sorts of drug info is circulated around like how to make meth and stuff like that. Collecting the sap is labor intensive and has a small return on investment. You need a field of poppies and workers slashing the flower pod and collecting sap. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/26 "2015-10-28T17:48:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Collecting the sap is labor intensive and has a small return on investment. You need a field of poppies and workers slashing the flower pod and collecting sap. Beat me to it. You would probably be hard pressed to collect enough for yourself in any plot small enough that it wouldn’t attract suspicion. And also, I reiterate that I suspect most opiate abusers aren’t even aware that they are the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/27 "2015-10-28T20:23:01Z")
> [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](#): > > Damn, I had this whole elaborate post typed up about pricing in the US and ease of production and availability and oxycontin and then I see we’re in GQ and I can’t editorialize without cites. SO: > > [This site](http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/heroin-prices/) lists “Brunei $1330.4 per gram” as the highest price in the world - a far fuck from ‘dirt cheap’. Not sure the reliability, but their [About](http://www.havocscope.com/about/) page does attempt to establish some credibility - I just haven’t double checked it yet to be sure (and owing to the time suck from my first reply, I really must be away…). > > I suspected in Japan it might be especially pricey - but it only comes in at 3rd on this list, behind a surprising second. Hehe, I went to that site and clicked on the “prices” page. I was was just skimming it and saw “Exotic animals” and right underneath that I read “Fake Dolphins” (instead of “fake Diplomas”). At first I was was surprised to hear that there was a black market for fake dolphins, but then I was then upset that there WASN’T. Yes, quiet an emotional rollercoaster ride today for me. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/28 "2015-10-28T23:24:16Z")
“California poppies” apparently seems to refer to California Golden Poppies ([Wiki page with various photos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschscholzia_californica)), the state flower of Ca. These are not the same as opium poppies or standard garden poppies, although if you follow it up high enough in the taxonomic tree, I think they are in the same group at some level. I don’t think you can get opium or heroin out of them, but the Wiki page seems to suggest that they have some similar sort of chemical. They are certainly not on the down-low in California. In some places out in the deserts, there are fields full of them that go on for miles and miles. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/29 "2015-10-29T00:57:06Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > What, 20 replies and \*nobody \*knows a guy who knows a guy who could help out the OP ? How far the SDMB has fallen… 🙂 Blame it on GQ. Even if I did know a guy who knows a guy, _that_ guy probably wouldn’t be all that forthcoming with a cite. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/30 "2015-10-29T02:28:18Z")
Please don’t send any more idiots to MD’s for Sch II drugs - the DEA is pissed, and my supply of morphine has been cut by 67% because of the ‘rampant over-use of Opiates’ in the USA. And the MD will not even talk about why I spend much of my life either on the web or in bed. May have to try the oxycodone stuff. Spell-check does not know the name ‘oxycodone’ - it helpfully suggests ‘Oxycontin’. Thanks, drug abusers. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/31 "2015-10-29T22:51:47Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Please don’t send any more idiots to MD’s for Sch II drugs - the DEA is pissed, and my supply of morphine has been cut by 67% because of the ‘rampant over-use of Opiates’ in the USA. > > And the MD will not even talk about why I spend much of my life either on the web or in bed. > > May have to try the oxycodone stuff. > > Spell-check does not know the name ‘oxycodone’ - it helpfully suggests ‘Oxycontin’. Thanks, drug abusers. I"ve heard chronic pain patients are getting squeezed by the DEAs efforts to prevent MDs from prescribing opiates to people, which harms those who actually need them. Must not be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/32 "2015-10-29T23:16:37Z")
You can pretty much buy a truckload in the [Shan State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shan_State) for whatever’s in your pocket. Unfortunately, you can’t enter the Shan State and if you do the local warlords will probably kill you. ---
**Author:** ![sweepkick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/33 "2015-10-30T00:46:27Z")
> [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](#): > > [This site](http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/heroin-prices/) lists “Brunei $1330.4 per gram” as the highest price in the world - a far fuck from ‘dirt cheap’. Not sure the reliability, but their [About](http://www.havocscope.com/about/) page does attempt to establish some credibility - I just haven’t double checked it yet to be sure (and owing to the time suck from my first reply, I really must be away…). Likely due to the fact that they don’t really have a sense of humor regarding drugs in Brunei. From [http://wikitravel.org/en/Brunei](http://wikitravel.org/en/Brunei) : [QUOTE=wikitravel] WARNING: Brunei treats drug offences extremely severely. The death penalty is mandatory for those convicted of trafficking, manufacturing, importing or exporting more than 15 g of heroin, 30 g of morphine, 30 g of cocaine, 500 g of cannabis, 200 g of cannabis resin and 1.2 kg of opium, and possession of these quantities is all that is needed for you to be convicted. For unauthorised consumption, there is a maximum of 10 years’ jail or or a heavy fine, or both. You can be charged for unauthorised consumption as long as traces of illicit drugs are found in your system, even if you can prove that they were consumed outside the country, and you can be charged for trafficking as long as drugs are found in bags that are in your possession or in your room, even if they aren’t yours and regardless of whether you’re aware of them - therefore be vigilant of your possessions. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745/34 "2015-10-30T01:07:19Z")
As I understand it, the actual problem with prescription drug abuse is the country lacks an integrated set of medical records. If every MD was required to file all their reports into a central system that any other MD could access if the patient were present (you could lock the database with bio-metrics in principle) it wouldn’t be a problem. Even the most generous opiate prescribing MD doesn’t give a single patient enough opiates to get high on for a significant amount of the time - people build up enormous tolerance to the prescription opiates and need crazy numbers of the pills to get high. If other MDs could just check the computer and see you already have active prescriptions for opiates, abuse would be minimal and people could get the drugs they need. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-heroin-dirt-cheap-anywhere-in-the-world/735745.md?page=1)