A Missouri man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for distributing unprocessed poppyseeds used to manufacture controlled substances. Antony Graziano received the sentence on October 2, 2025, from Chief United States District Judge Pamela Pepper in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Graziano pleaded guilty to conspiracy and distribution charges under Title 21 of the United States Code. According to court records, between September 2020 and approximately September 2022, Graziano sold unwashed poppyseeds online through his business, Fireseed Bakery. The seeds were marketed with the intent that customers would extract opium alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and thebaine by soaking them in liquid.
Graziano compared the potency of “poppyseed tea” made from his product to prescription opiates like Oxycodone and acknowledged that consuming it carried a significant risk of overdose and death.
At sentencing, Judge Pepper emphasized “the serious nature of the offense and the tremendous risk and harm created by Graziano’s conduct.”
The court ordered Graziano’s 18-month sentence to run consecutively with a separate 50-month sentence he received in the Eastern District of Missouri. He will also serve one year of supervised release after his prison term. In addition, Graziano must forfeit his home in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as well as about $20,000 seized from his bank accounts.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated this case.
