Drug testing consists of looking for certain substances in your body. For instance, if you’re getting tested for marijuana, the drug test is specifically looking for THC, which is the psychoactive component that makes you feel high.
Similarly, you might be tested for opiates… which aren’t solely found in drugs. They can also be found in poppy seeds!
That leads us to an important question: Can you fail a drug test after eating poppy seeds?
Can Poppy Seeds Lead to a Positive Drug Test Result?
The short answer is technically, but the long answer is that it’s no longer a concern. Let’s talk about why.
First, a quick science lesson!
The Poppy Plant
Poppy seeds come from the poppy plant. Its technical name is papaver somniferum. “Somniferum” is the Latin word for “sleep-bringing.” The opiates from this plant act to depress the central nervous system (CNS), making you drowsy. This is also why opiates are often used as painkillers like morphine and codeine.
So, poppy seeds contain opiates, meaning eating them can make you high, right?
Not quite.
The seeds don't contain opiates. Rather, the pods carrying the seeds do. However, when the seeds are harvested, the opiates from the pods that once held them might get mixed in.
So, Can You Get High From Eating Poppy Seeds?
No, eating poppy seeds won’t make you high. It would be very, very difficult to eat enough to trigger that kind of response. Plus, if you use those seeds in a recipe and then cook or bake that food, you lower the opiate content even more.
So, its technically possible but highly improbable.
This brings us back to our original question: Can poppy seeds make you fail a drug test? This was a concern in the past but has since been addressed. There used to be far more positive opioid tests due to poppy seed consumption. In response, toward the end of 1998, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) raised the cutoff concentration for both morphine and codeine in urine specimens from 300 ng/mL to 2,000 ng/mL.
Again, you'd have to consume an excessive amount of poppy seeds to even come close to 2,000 ng/mL.
Plus, drug test results should be reviewed by a medical review officer (MRO), who is a licensed physician. If there are no physical indications of illicit opiate use — like needle marks — even higher levels of opiates in the urine specimen will typically be considered negative.
This is why positive drug tests due to poppy seed consumption aren't generally a problem.
Don't Stress About Your Diet!
Even after reading this, you might think you should completely avoid consuming poppy seeds if you might possibly have a drug test coming up, just to be safe. To be clear, there are certain people who might want to consume poppy seeds with caution: those in the military.
In 2023, the Department of Defense released a memo suggesting that all military personnel avoid eating poppy seeds out of an abundance of caution.
For the rest of us — the vast majority — there's little reason to worry.
US Drug Test Centers only partners with SAMHSA-certified laboratories, which are held to the strictest standards regarding the processes they follow and the equipment they use. Secondly, we have all drug test results verified by a medical review officer (MRO). This is how we're able to ensure accurate drug test results.
If you need to order a drug test, you can do so online with US Drug Test Centers within minutes. We have more than 20,000 locations nationwide, so you never have to go far to find us.