Poppy seeds are banned?

On February 28, 2006 · 16 Comments · In Eating

‘There’s no more poppy seeds in any bak­ery in Sin­ga­pore because the police will inves­ti­gate… you know? You know what poppy is used for?’

So the fella behind the counter at the Orchard Tow­ers’ Jason’s Supermarket’s Hie­s­tand Swiss Bakery’s (hooray for Apos­tro­phy Man!) kiosk told me when I asked for buns with poppy seeds on them.

Is that true? How many poppy seeds do you need to eat to get stoned?

Appar­ently the poppy seed ban has been around for ages, and I just didn’t realise it because I sel­dom have a strong crav­ing for poppy seeds on baked goods.

So there you have it, poppy seeds are con­tra­band, and to think I actu­ally asked for them over the counter!

Sin­ga­pore Cus­toms’ (yay, apos­tro­phe!) tradenet web­site, a.k.a. ‘the banned wagon’, has poppy seeds at num­ber 41 on their list of con­trolled items (‘Toy walkie talkie’ is at num­ber 53). The pop­u­la­tion of our fair coun­try is banned from import­ing or pur­chas­ing poppy seeds from places like super­mar­kets, as one expa­tri­ate pun­dit puts it:


“as they may be inclined (being illit­er­ates as they are and mind­lessly bow­ing to mind­less rules) to abuse poppy seeds and cul­ti­vate a cash crop of opium and revert to days of yore when opium dens pro­lif­er­ated and the mind­less pop­u­lace wasted away on their backs in a drug induced coma.…”

Ixora
These ain’t pop­pies (pic­tures of pop­pies are banned too, I reckon), but we used to con­sume the sweet nec­tar from these ixoras

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  • http://modernburrow.lah.cc pmg

    I have never known poppy seeds to make me high… Hmmmm… It was like when they orig­i­nally didn’t allow Chai. I was so sad. I need my Ice Venti Soy Chai fix.

  • http://modernburrow.lah.cc pmg

    I have never known poppy seeds to make me high… Hmmmm… It was like when they orig­i­nally didn’t allow Chai. I was so sad. I need my Ice Venti Soy Chai fix.

  • http://missyminz.blogspot.com Mis­syMinz

    I absolutely love poppy seed-ed bread and bis­cuits! Marks and Spencers used to sell crack­ers with poppy seeds in them, great with cheese or on its own. And I used to eat it all the time (I seri­ously doubt it’s because it’s addic­tive. Haha.) But yeah, we can’t get them in Sin­ga­pore no more…

  • http://missyminz.blogspot.com Mis­syMinz

    I absolutely love poppy seed-ed bread and bis­cuits! Marks and Spencers used to sell crack­ers with poppy seeds in them, great with cheese or on its own. And I used to eat it all the time (I seri­ously doubt it’s because it’s addic­tive. Haha.) But yeah, we can’t get them in Sin­ga­pore no more…

  • http://blog.wificat.com stray­dog

    No won­der I can’t find them at Marks and Spencers any­more. That suck.

    Poppy can make you fail a drug test, con­firmed by Myth­busters on Dis­cov­ery. Maybe that’s why they are ban here.

  • http://blog.wificat.com stray­dog

    No won­der I can’t find them at Marks and Spencers any­more. That suck.

    Poppy can make you fail a drug test, con­firmed by Myth­busters on Dis­cov­ery. Maybe that’s why they are ban here.

  • http://www.toomanythoughts.org/blog/ Tym

    Why would chai be banned? Nar­cotic? Hrm, maybe that’s why I like it so much…

  • http://www.toomanythoughts.org/blog/ Tym

    Why would chai be banned? Nar­cotic? Hrm, maybe that’s why I like it so much…

  • http://www.jangace.com jan­gace

    Oh man.. Gin­seng roots are #22 on the con­trolled list. Who’ll declare all these stuff?

  • http://www.jangace.com jan­gace

    Oh man.. Gin­seng roots are #22 on the con­trolled list. Who’ll declare all these stuff?

  • http://www.expat-at-large.com/blog expatat­large

    Con­fes­sion time: I am a drug smuggler!

    I had looked around all the shops for quite awhile back there as The Mouse (my ex-maid — haven’t you been fol­low­ing my blog?) was going to make us some poppy-seed blintzes (Russ­ian pan­cake like things). Even­tu­ally, I had to stash of some poppy seeds in my bag on a trip back from Hong Kong (which should not be so severe on drugs as it was founded as a ship­ping port for Jardine-Matheison’s Indian opium car­tel to feed the Chi­nese addicts they had cre­ated… sort of like Colombia’s rela­tion­ship with USA, though the cocaine deal­ers are not backed by the British Government.)

    Ques­tion is: what if had got caught? Manda­tory death penalty? Media out­rage? Appeals for clemency? Diplo­matic cri­sis? Candle-lit vig­ils and on-line peti­tions for E@L? Would I have got to give my mother one last hug?

    I am going home to flush those incrim­i­nat­ing lit­tle black seeds down the toi­let right this minute!

    E@L

  • http://www.expat-at-large.com/blog expatat­large

    Con­fes­sion time: I am a drug smuggler!

    I had looked around all the shops for quite awhile back there as The Mouse (my ex-maid — haven’t you been fol­low­ing my blog?) was going to make us some poppy-seed blintzes (Russ­ian pan­cake like things). Even­tu­ally, I had to stash of some poppy seeds in my bag on a trip back from Hong Kong (which should not be so severe on drugs as it was founded as a ship­ping port for Jardine-Matheison’s Indian opium car­tel to feed the Chi­nese addicts they had cre­ated… sort of like Colombia’s rela­tion­ship with USA, though the cocaine deal­ers are not backed by the British Government.)

    Ques­tion is: what if had got caught? Manda­tory death penalty? Media out­rage? Appeals for clemency? Diplo­matic cri­sis? Candle-lit vig­ils and on-line peti­tions for E@L? Would I have got to give my mother one last hug?

    I am going home to flush those incrim­i­nat­ing lit­tle black seeds down the toi­let right this minute!

    E@L

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  • kalll

    They should bring bet­ter argu­ments for this, I have my doubts about this because I also believe these seeds are not pos­ing any risks, only recently I find out about that. If poppy seeds are banned what are the legal con­se­quences for those who choose to use them. Are there any peo­ple in drug rehab cen­ter because of these seeds?

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