Utahn found guilty of selling homemade drug kits to make opiate 'tea'

SALT LAKE CITY — A West Jordan man was found guilty in federal court last month of selling homemade drug kits across the country that instructed people on how to make opiate tea.

Devin Michael Tew, 40, was indicted in March 2024 and accused of possessing, marketing and selling 'PoppySeed Wash" kits, which were designed to enable customers to get high from a "home-brewed, opiate-rich tea," the U.S. Attorney's Office of Utah said.

Tew was charged with unlawful possession of drug manufacturing paraphernalia, introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce, failing to follow regulations on manufacturing and distribution of the products, and three counts of structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements.

The transaction charges were dismissed in March due to the death of a significant witness and the misbranded drugs charge was dismissed "in light of newly obtained evidence," court records show. The count of failing to follow regulations on manufacturing and distribution was severed by the court and will be tried separately, according to court records.

On April 30, Tew was found guilty by a federal jury of unlawful possession of drug manufacturing paraphernalia.

From before 2018 to 2022, Tew operated an illegal online business through the website poppyseedwash.com, where he sold wash kits to people who wanted to get high off of opium coatings specially sourced from poppy seeds, according to federal prosecutors.

Each kit had a bottle with unwashed poppy seeds, an instruction label for manufacturing the product at home, a measuring guide and a strainer in the cap to filter out the seeds when squeezing out the opium-infused tea, prosecutors said. The preparation process resulted in a "tea" containing morphine, codeine and thebaine — all of which are opiates and controlled substances.

Tew's bottled product was tested in 2020 and 2026 by FDA chemists and both times the product was determined to contain all three opiates.

Evidence during the trial showed that Tew's marketing of the product "idealized the abuse of opium in various related social media posts," the U.S. Attorney's Office of Utah said.

Tew also amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars through the illegal business, prosecutors allege.

"In fact, Tew admitted to federal agents that, at one point, he was withdrawing — or having his sole part-time employee withdraw — between $9,500 and $10,000 per day that he made from his 'PoppySeed Wash' business," the U.S. Attorney's Office of Utah said.

Tew's sentencing has not been scheduled yet.

Related topics