guilt

poppy tea is a strange, pseudo-legal substance, made from Papaverum somniferum, the opium poppy. you cook it up from either the straw, or the seeds; the straw is gotten by putting poppy pods into a coffee grinder, and you can get the pods from any craft shop, cause they're pretty, natch. or you can grow your own and dry it yourself, which is also legal. cooking this dusty stuff properly results in a small amount of Pepsi-coloured, stunningly disgusting liquid, which needs to be done as a shot, since you'll likely vomit trying to drink it normally.

that is, you get low-grade opium, what they call the peat angel. it's an effective painkiller and sleep inducer. in daily life, it's pretty invaluable: takes away your pain at night, cures your insomnia, lets you sit on the floor or at the table and study without having to stop every five minutes and go lie down.

or it would be, if it didn't carry a huge burden of guilt. not because of the questionable legality - you can ask Uncle Wiki about that - but because of where it comes from. see, the opium poppy is one of Afghanistan's largest crops, and the Taliban control its production. i can't help feeling like every time one of us pays for a sack of somniferum heads, that money is going to someone who thinks his wife is his property, who murders unmarried lovers, who wants us all to be slaves of his god. i'm paying that guy money.

but i still accept cups of peat when someone brews some. i feel like a total douche for doing it, but it's hard to decline when someone is offering you free painkillers. i honestly don't know if it's ethically acceptable to drink the imported shit. then again, i'd have a hard time growing my own, not having any garden and being the Death of Houseplants.

i'm in a bind here. thoughts?

L