Just read this article: Confessions of an eBay opium addict | Feature | Tucson Weekly . I thought maybe it was from some time ago and things have changed, but poppy pods are still overflowing on Ebay. Googling some more leads to revelations such as this:
How is this legal?!
Opium poppy seeds are perfectly legal in the US and Canada. That’s because they don’t contain any of the alkaloids present in the full-grown plant. They even use them on bagels!
Edit: Just noticed that the ad says pods, not sure if that’s the same thing. If it isn’t, ignore me! 
Here’s Erowid. Apparently you can get high on the pods but they are just full of seeds so legal. No way would they have the blast of the full-grown flower.
Spam reported
You just keep staring at your gps.
Ok, you got me. This message was brought to you by the Pod Growers of America. The Pod Growers of America is an industry body representing all pod growers and dealers (except those who aren’t on Ebay).
The Pod Growers of America is also endutied to regularly check up on the legal status of their industry by visiting message boards and interjecting, “How is this legal?!”
Finally, the Pod Growers of America would like to remind you that pods are the other white milk.
I must have missed something here. How is this spam?
Or am I being whooshed?
Hmm, that doesn’t make sense. Opium extracts, poppies, etc is Schedule II (illegal). But if there’s no opium, I don’t see how you would get high.
Are these being sold so that you can grow poppies?
No they’re dried pods of the plants, sold for ‘flower arrangement’. Never tried it, but I’ve certainly heard stories.
There was a very complete article on this phenomenon around 10 years ago, in Atlantic Monthly (I think). The upshot is: You can grow opium poppies, as long as you don’t know that you can make opium from them. If you grow them, and you DO know that they can be used to make opium, you can be arrested on narcotics laws.
I kid you not.
(The article had a big disclaimer at the beginning saying that if you grow these poppies, you probably shouldn’t read the rest of the article, if you are the paranoid type)
It was an article by Michael Pollan in the April 1997 issue of Harpers.
And here’s the link: http://www.harpers.org/archive/1997/04/0010134 Edit: Whoops, it only works if you’re a paid subscriber. I can only imagine what this man spends 20 pages discussing.
One of the problems one could have growing opium poppies is that local law enforcement might use this as an excuse to confiscate other things. The case I was familiar with was where a guy had some opium poppies growing in a pot on his deck. A neighbor, annoyed about something, reported him to the local sheriff as growing drugs. The sheriff raided the place and absconded with his antique gun collection because they were “part and parcel” of the illegal drug operation. The last I heard of it the poppies had been destroyed, the drug case had been dropped, and the chap was in court attempting to get his guns back.
It didn’t make much sense to me either. 
But the truth is it seems that no, you can’t get high on the seeds, but yes, you can!
Dried seed pods would obviously contain no sap (or minuscule amounts) and be useless. Fresh seed pods, OTOH, would have sap as well as seeds in them and the sap would make them illegal.
Link
This thread has convinced me to start growing poppies. They are a beautiful flower, too.
I’m also reminded of the Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters. One of brother Cafaels medieval herb treatments is an infusion of poppy heads in wine, used as a pain reliever and sleep inducer.
Besides, there are so many things one could use to get high, if you knew what you were doing. Morning glory seeds, for instance. Datura. Mushrooms.
PS I also don’t see the spam.
Apparently the sap doesn’t go anywhere. The water leaves, but that’s added back in with the tea-making process.
There is a big difference between things like morning glory, nutmeg, and some legal species of mushrooms and opium poppies. Hallucinogens aren’t real drugs. They make you crazy for a bit, which can be fun if you’re really excited about the prospect, but they don’t give you pleasure in and of themselves and are not addictive. Meanwhile, opium poppies are the definition of narcotics and very addictive.
This makes it all the more curious that not only is the plant allowed to grow in our gardens, but that its pods are freely traded over Ebay. (Which bans plenty of legal things.)
I mean I’m sure they’re not the most amazing of opiates. They are described as at the level of prescription painkillers, at best, and historically people stopped messing with them as soon as morphine and heroin came on the scene. But still. This seems to be the most legit legal high, bar none. And strangest thing is that I’ve never heard of it till now.
Cecil speaks (and mentions Michael Pollan).
actually, opium poppy tea is incredibly strong and the effects last well over a day. There’s plenty of morphine in those little o’s
To help clarify the legal situation - buying viable poppy seeds is legal in the U.S., though some flower seed houses won’t sell them. Growing P. somniferum, even the ornamental types is a murkier situation, and can get you busted in some jurisdictions (authorities have even confiscated plants grown by little old ladies who have no interest in getting high). “Not knowing” the law (as stupid as it may be - having a few plants of the ornamental versions will not yield enough opium for any kind of drug use) is not going to spare you potential consequences.
The people who traffic in pods on Ebay are probably going to bring more heat on gardeners who just want to grow the fantastic flowers.
Dumbasses.
I still don’t see how it can be legal. It seems pretty clear that opium is a controlled substance. If the poppy pods can make you high, I’m assuming it can only be from opium. Therefore, the pods must be illegal.
Could Ebay just be this stupid? Or are people just getting high off a placebo/ritual magic effect?