"Easy" is a stretch.

Yes, poppy seeds are the seeds of the poppy plant which is a large component of opium. But they are not actually opium and your body tends to digest the seeds (which are likely already broken down by the cooking process and however long they were in a jar) different than if you were to process and smoke or inject them. Which tends to lead toward trace amounts that should be below most thresholds... unless you are particularly dehydrated or otherwise didn't digest the seeds properly.

A big part of the issue is that reputable research on how much you can get away with for a piss test tends to not be funded for whatever reason. It is the same reason that it is generally fine to use hemp based products (e.g. Dr Bronner's) but nobody will ever put that in writing because there are too many unknowns and it just leads to a mess.

Or, going back to smelling something dank at a concert or on a trail? Guidance was always to be terrified and run away to at least five states over. But the reality is that you basically would need to be hot boxed to get enough contact THC from that. But the threshold between "someone in this outdoor venue is smoking a marijuana cigarette" and "I am stuck in a cloud of weed smoke" is very dependent on far too many factors. So it is easier to say "You get paid enough to just avoid it"

And of the less reputable studies (such as the "I am gonna eat poppy seeds and then piss hot"), they tend to have VERY wildly varying seeds. So stuff like fresh seeds off the plant and so forth.

Which is why I still find it wild that they would go from single piss test to action without a blood test. But not THAT wild since blood tests take significantly more time and money.

No, it's not easy to pop hot just from eating a dish with poppy seeds and it hasn't been for a long time. The trace amounts aren't nearly enough to reach the minimum threshold.

I would be 100% willing to believe hospital used substandard or defective tests, that she was on another legally prescribed medication that causes false positives, or even that the hospital administered opiates themselves, and through negligence and incompetece, forgot to put it in her chart.

But whenever someone says they ate a poppy seed muffin or salad, and that's the only explanation they have, I'm immediately leaning towards actual opiates being the culprit.

Not saying it's impossible these days, I'm saying it's the least likely possible answer between those two options.

That said, this is the American healthcare system, so my money is on hospital error of some kind.

I loved Mythubsters but they were far from rigorous scientists (and Adam Savage says that every time he talks about Mythbusters to get Will Smith's Tested some views).

Again, there are LOTS of variables involved including even whether the poppy seeds were washed or how sensitive the test is. My understanding is the disposable OTC-ish tests tend to be much higher sensitivity because they need to last a lot longer than chemicals in a lab.

Can it happen? Yes. Just like you CAN pop positive for THC from just walking too close to the stoners at a crag. But considering this was mass produced and processed salad dressing at a frigging costco? That is very much in the "oh god, I ate one poppy seed muffin!" territory. And considering that most of those arguments are geared toward people who will be unemployed if they piss hot, it is going to err on the side of caution.

Because there is a big gap between possible and probable. And you'll note that almost all reputable sources say "it is possible and you should avoid this" in the same way that basically everything sold in California is potentially cancerous.

In fact, for Mythubsters in particular: I would need to rewatch that episode (... I need to rewatch most of their episodes, honestly) but they were always in downtown San Francisco, right? Could EASILY see a case where they got gourmet/organic poppy seed muffins rather than the insanely processed crap you find at a kroger (or a costco).

Going back to hemp oil and THC. From actual tests we totally didn't misappropriate government lab resources to run, Bronners was incredibly processed and safe. But there was also enough variance bottle to bottle that I would never have (knowingly) risked it. We did basic statistics on the 4-ish bottles we tested but... money.

Whereas we also got a hold of some of the oil used at a local spa and that shit would have made Snoop Dogg dizzy.

Well, one of her kids is obese, and I would call that abuse.

But the article was a whirlwind of dumb procedures and overreactions.

Ah. Apologies. I thought I was speaking with an adult. Not a child who can't have a conversation without randomly antagonizing others.

Have fun.