Son's death prompts mother's warning about poppy seed tea

A mother warns parents after her son dies from drinking a tea brewed from poppy seeds. Cory Young died this past summer at his Texas home. The cause of death was morphine intoxication.

Like a growing number of young people, Cory started steeping poppy seeds to make a tea to get high.

There's information about making the tea on the Internet. Cory even wrote about how to make sure you don't die if you overdose.

"I want parents to know what it can do to their kids," said Cory's mother, Frances Young.

You can find poppy pods online or in hobby stores. Poppy seeds are at groceries and markets. We put them on bagels.

"If you're going to choose to abuse a product, it can be dangerous," said Palm Beach County chiropractor and nutritionist Dr. Bill Rice, who has a practice in Palm Springs.

"Poppy seeds have been cultivated for over 3,000 years," said Dr. Rice. "They have been used for insomnia, cough. I've seen them used for skin problems," although Rice said he's never used poppy seeds himself.

Rice says he's more concerned about the unripe, and more potent, forms of the poppy, as opposed to the seeds found in stores. "The unripe seeds have a lot more alkaloid activity than the ripe seeds," said Dr. Rice.