Garden Course Participants Mistakenly Given Illegal Poppy Seedlings to Cultivate

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:49 JST, August 12, 2023

Local government officials in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, mistakenly gave participants of a city-sponsored gardening course seedlings of a poppy plant that cannot be legally cultivated in Japan.

In March, the course’s 22 participants received seedlings of dwarf breadseed poppy, cultivation of which is prohibited under the law regulating opium.

The seedlings were cultivated by a staff member who was under the impression they were Iceland poppies, which are similar in appearance and can be cultivated legally.

One of the participants notified the city of the mistake in May when the flower bloomed.