Good intentions

Good intentions
25-June-05

I recently drove through Virginia and North Carolina and noticed that in parts of those states, highway beautification is going full force on the interstate system. Spring and the imminent arrival of summer shows a profusion of planted flowers, both of the cultivated and "wild" variety. One section in NC, I believe, was extraordinarily nice. The northbound and southbound sections were separated by a small hill so the median was all that was visible beside the highway. One portion could be called a meadow and was covered with brilliant red poppies. In the center of those wonderful blooms was a fawn, still covered with the white spots/stripes characteristic of the young of the white-tailed deer. It seemed oblivious to the traffic as it munched on poppy greenery. (I wish I had been able to get a picture of it, but my camera takes about 5 seconds to "warm up" sufficiently to snap, so by the time I saw it and tried to turn on the camera, I was a quarter mile down the road. Alas....) The thought crossed my mind that it was on its way to becoming addicted to opium, courtesy of a political subdivision of the same country which pays other countries *NOT* to plant poppies.

You see, the red poppy (first Google link I found - http://opioids.com/poppy.html and another - http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/popwhi64.html) growing there is the same poppy as those grown by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and by countless others in countries around the world. They harvest the raw opium and convert it to morphine and/or heroin for shipment to the United States and other countries where there is a demand. But, it's not illegal to grow those same poppies in the US. There is no USDA program similar to the "don't raise pigs or soybeans or (insert crop name here) and we'll pay you money" that is one of the mainstays of our convoluted farm subsidy program. You may plant as many as you wish, if all you do is enjoy the blossoms. I've been told, but haven't verified, that until you have the INTENT to harvest the raw opium from those plants, there is no crime. You don't even have to do it, just have intent. Talk about your "thought crimes"! (Another Google link which contains a "Laws" subsection - http://www.erowid.org/plants/poppy/poppy.shtml which says it's illegal to grow for the opium but questionable for ornamental use.)

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Quick quiz: who said that? When asked, many people believe it's from the Bible. BZZZT--wrong! It's not 100% documented, but many scholars lean toward Karl Marx as that quote's author. Others (http://www.samueljohnson.com/road.html) say Samuel Johnson. Intentions are slippery things; does that fawn have the intention to partake of the opium in those poppies? If so, it's on the road to prison, if not Hell.