I know laws have changed in Canada lately, but for the USA, they are perfectly Legal to grow for us Gardeners who grow them for Seeds & Ornamental Purposes. Not only are their Seeds legal to Buy & Sell Commercially, but the actual living Plants themselves can even be bought and sold for growing here in the USA. read more
Legal Varieties. Many varieties of poppy can be grown legally. Prickly poppy (Argemone polyanthemos, USDA zones 2 to 11) and California poppy (Eschscholzia californica, USDA zones 8 to 10) are both natives to the western United States and don't contain the substance used to make opium. read more
Heroin, the most notorious poppy-derived drug, also remains a problem: Demand for the life-ravaging substance has fueled the continued growth of illicit poppy seed farms across the border in Mexico and in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, countries where opium use is still very much a reality. read more