There are many plants that can be healing or poisonous, depending. Many years ago, before I had dogs and hounds that would nibble just about anything, I had a little "poison garden" near my herb garden. It struck me that just as plants can be health-giving or death-dealing so, too, are there many things in our modern life that I can say the same thing about. Ron Whitehead was my co-conspirator in this continuation of “The Poison Garden.” The plant he is holding is poppy (Papaver somniferum). From the cheerful blowsy poppy flower’s pod comes opium; slash it and it bleeds a powerful latex. Throughout the centuries, folks have used opium for its pain-relieving properties, as well as an antispasmodic and expectorant in treating certain kinds of coughs, while its astringent properties make it useful in the treatment of dysentery etc. While many parts of this plant are not poisonous, opium is some powerful stuff and its derivatives (morphine, codeine, heroin, etc.) can sure-nuff kill ya dead. I have paired Papaver somniferum with "oil" as this photo's theme. There’s nothing inherently wrong with oil. Yet even as our societal addiction of pain-killers grow and an epidemic of overdoses sweeps merrily across race/class/age lines, so too do we seem to find ourselves absolutely addicted to petroleum. And it very well may be the death of us. PHOTO: "The Poison Garden: Papaver somniferum, 1" MODEL: Ron Whitehead LOCATION ASSISTANCE: Marshall’s Auto Parts, Inc. (Clarksville, IN)