Elderly Chinese Man Arrested for Growing 800 Opium Poppies For Food Seasoning

May 1, 2017

A clueless 62-year-old man from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province was arrested for growing around 800 opium poppies, claiming it makes his food taste better.

According to South China Morning Post, the man discovered poppy seeds in November last year and sprinkled them his land for farming. When he used these poppy seeds for cooking, he was surprised to find out that it tastes better than putting monosodium glutamate on his food. The elderly man, surname Tu, was arrested after police received a tip of a blooming poppies in a field.

The report said that Tu’s case is still pending for trial but the old Chinese man has been granted bail.

In China, it is illegal to plant more than 500 poppies because they are used to produce drugs like opium, heroin, and morphine.

While it is clear that the old grandpa violated the law, some netizens expressed their concern because of the terrible circumstances that some people find themselves into because of this plant. Some people said that most of these old people probably didn’t know what the plant is for.

“My relatives also planted these before. At the time, it was used purely for medicinal purposes, drinking it with water when you were sick. It was only when I was older that I realized maybe I had long been a drug addict,” an online user said.

Just like a similar case that happened in Liaoning Province, an elderly couple grew more than 800 poppies only because they looked beautiful.

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