Times News - A couple from Xiaoshan unintentionally obtained two poppy fruits. Because they heard that this thing could cure toothaches, they sowed the seeds in the ground and waited for the harvest. To their surprise, in less than half a year, the seeds of the two poppy fruits propagated into 1,875 poppy plants.
Yesterday at 9:00 AM, the couple stood trial at the Xiaoshan District Court on charges of illegally planting narcotic plant material.
Discovering two plants while working as laborers
A coworker said its fruit could cure toothaches
The couple both surnamed Zhu, Mr. Zhu is 54 years old, and Mrs. Zhu is 51 years old. Both are illiterate.
When the couple walked into the courtroom, there was a commotion in the gallery, and someone cried out: "Dad." Then four or five family members burst into tears. In the gallery sat the daughter of the Zhu family, who constantly wiped away her tears thinking about the possibility of her parents going to prison: "My parents didn't know, they didn't know what they were planting was a drug, nor did they realize how serious it would be."
The judge announced the start of the trial and asked the Zhus: "Why did you plant so many poppies?"
The couple looked bewildered, not knowing how to respond, and dared not ask too many questions. They furrowed their brows in confusion and remained silent.
The judge had to rephrase the question in Xiaoshan dialect.
This seemed to enlighten the couple, who then recounted the entire incident in the Xiaoshan dialect.
It turned out that last fall, Mrs. Zhu was doing odd jobs in the Xiaoshan reclamation area. One day, she accidentally discovered two plants; they had an elliptical top and a straight stem below. She found them curious and asked her coworkers what they were. The coworker told her that eating these fruits could cure toothaches and stomachaches. Hearing this, Mrs. Zhu was delighted.
"My teeth have always been bad and often hurt, and we also have an 86-year-old mother who frequently has toothaches," said Mrs. Zhu. Upon hearing from her coworker that this plant could cure toothaches, she eagerly took the two fruits home.
Planted by the shrimp pond with astonishing growth
Police counted 1,875 poppy plants
At the beginning of this year, Mrs. Zhu had her husband sow all the seeds from the two fruits near their family's contracted shrimp pond.
Unexpectedly, this plant was very easy to grow. Despite the couple not taking much care of it, within two months, several square meters of land were densely covered with two rows of plants.
However, before the couple could harvest the fruits to treat their toothaches, on May 25th of this year, someone reported it to the police station. After counting, the police found that a small plot of land had grown 1,875 poppy plants.
"We only knew this thing could cure diseases, we didn't know it was poppy, nor did we know that just two small fruits could grow so many plants, and even less did we know that planting it would result in jail time," Mrs. Zhu said to the judge, looking wronged.
At this moment, the family members in the gallery started crying again. Mr. Zhu, hearing this, also began to cry, sobbing while pleading with the judge: "I still have an 86-year-old mother, and I am already a grandfather and a great-grandfather. We are both illiterate, if we had known that planting this thing was illegal, we definitely wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't do anything illegal, and it would be very embarrassing if this news spreads."
Mrs. Zhu also started crying: "We are illiterate, we don't watch TV or read books, we didn't know this was illegal."
The verdict for this case was not announced in court.
Planting poppies is an illegal act
More than 500 plants can lead to imprisonment
The reporter later learned from the judge that privately growing poppies is an illegal act. Growing less than 500 plants will result in detention and fines as administrative penalties, while growing more than 500 plants can lead to imprisonment.
The presiding judge said that China has strict criminal law regulations regarding the cultivation of narcotic plant materials. 500 plants is the threshold for committing a crime, meaning that growing more than 500 poppy plants constitutes the crime of illegally planting narcotic plant materials.
According to Article 351 of the Criminal Law: Illegally planting opium, marijuana, and other narcotic plant materials shall be forcibly eradicated. Planting between 500 and 3,000 opium plants or other large quantities of narcotic plants will result in a sentence of no more than 5 years in prison, detention, or probation, along with a fine. Illegal planting of more than 3,000 opium plants or other large quantities of narcotic plants will result in a sentence of more than 5 years in prison, along with a fine or confiscation of property.
Two fruits grew into 1,875 plants
Only because poppies have extremely strong reproductive capabilities
Ms. Zhu only planted the seeds of two poppy fruits, but how did they propagate into 1,875 poppy plants? Teacher Fu from the Zhejiang Botanical Society said that this is entirely possible. Because a single poppy fruit contains hundreds of seeds, and once they are sown, they grow easily. Additionally, during the growth process, poppies drop seeds around them, further propagating.
Poppies have very strong adaptability, growing from the southernmost tip of Africa to the northern parts of the Earth. Poppies are also known as "lazy crops" because after sowing, they can be left to grow without much care, needing only one thinning, no fertilization, irrigation, or field management, and can be harvested after 4 months. After cutting the latex from the poppy fruit, the branches dry up and quickly rot, turning into fertilizer, making poppy fields increasingly fertile, allowing continuous planting without fallow.
The presiding judge from the Xiaoshan Court also said that they had previously encountered a case where a single poppy fruit propagated into over 500 plants, truly demonstrating the extraordinary reproductive capability of poppies.