17 tons of mature opium poppies have been seized from 8 fields (encompassing 5.6 acres of land) in Aromas and Royal Oaks over the last 8 days. The more than 34,000 pounds of poppies were destroyed. Its been illegal to grow opium poppies in California for 100 years now.
The California Poppy is bright orange and an opium poppy can come in multiple colors, that usually have dark centers and a really big capsule (which, as it develops, gets bigger and bigger).
Authorities are trying to determine if the plants were being grown for the cut flower industry or the illicit drug trade.
