Legal analysis: buying and selling poppy shells is an obvious illegal act. Adding poppy shells or poppy powder to food violates the provisions of Item 1 of Article 34 of the Food Safety Law, which prohibits the production and marketing of food made of non-food raw materials or food with chemicals other than food additives and other substances that may endanger human health. According to the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases Endangering Food Safety, it is suspected of producing and selling toxic and harmful food.

Legal basis: Article 71 of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishment, whoever illegally transports, buys, sells, stores or uses a small amount of poppy shells shall be detained for more than 10 days and less than 15 days, and may also be fined less than 3,000 yuan. If the punishment is relatively light, he shall be detained for less than 5 days or fined for less than 500 yuan.