
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991                   TAG: 9104190796
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

DEA WON'T STOP OPIUM POPPIES

Federal drug authorities say they have no plans to charge Monticello officials for continuing to grow opium poppies on the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's home.

"Technically, it is illegal to grow opium-producing poppies, and if they were trying to harvest them to make drugs we would take some action," Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Bill Ruzzamenti said Thursday. "But no one would prosecute those people for just growing the flowers."

Virginia's climate will not allow opium poppies to mature to a point at which opium could be extracted from their bulbs, Charlottesville Federal Drug Task Force Agent Richard Hudson said. The plants could reach that point in a greenhouse, he said.

"Jefferson grew poppies as ornamental flowers just as he grew hemp to make rope," said Peggy Newcomb, Monticello's assistant director for grounds and gardens. "That's why we continue to grow that kind of poppy at Monticello. They're beautiful flowers."

Papaver somniferum, the 3-foot flowering poppy species that produces opium, has grown at Monticello since Jefferson's gardeners planted it in the early 19th century.

by CNB