Police count opium poppy seedlings grown by a woman in Dongming County, Heze City of Shandong Province. (Photo provided by local police)
(ECNS) -- A woman has been detained for growing and eating opium poppy seedlings in her backyard in Dongming County, Heze City of Shandong Province, local media reported.
The woman cultivated 2,275 poppy plants.
She said she got three poppy seeds from her mother-in-law and grew the species to eat for its alleged health benefits.
Local police said it's illegal to grow even one plant of opium poppy because it can be used to produce heroin.
China bans the growth of poppies, with Criminal Law stipulating that anyone found cultivating more than 500 plants but less than 3,000 will face fines as well as fixed-term imprisonment and criminal detention.
In 2015, a local court in East China's Jiangsu Province sentenced a woman to two years in prison for growing thousands of poppy plants.
