Brampton Coun. Vicky Dhillon wants a full-scale ban on the sale of doda in Canada. (Priya Sankaran/CBC)A city councillor in Brampton, Ont., is pushing to have a substance closely related to opium banned from sale.

Doda, sometimes called dode, is created by grinding the husks and seeds of the poppy plant, which is the same plant that produces opium. Often taken with tea or water, dode produces a quick high, followed by a sense of calm or well being.

But many, including Brampton Coun. Vicky Dhillon, say doda is dangerous and addictive, and they want it banned.

Doda is openly sold at flea markets, meat shops and flower stores in South Asian neighbourhoods. It's estimated some users spend between $10 and $40 per day on doda.

According to Dhillon, he has seen "long lineups of people and they don't want to give you their names because they're feeling embarrassment, shame. They are buying that cheap drug and what [are] they going to tell to their kids and their wives?"

Addiction specialist Dr. Steven Black said the effects of doda are "no different [from] shooting a needle up your arm."

However, said Black, "unlike other patients that are addicted, like heroin patients, all these patients work and have young families."

Black has used methadone to wean hundreds of young men from the South Asian community off doda.

Health Canada told CBC News that doda is illegal because the law clearly prohibits anything containing opium poppy, regardless of the levels of opiates it contains. The agency says it is up to police to enforce the law.

However, there is a perception amongst politicians and police that the powder must contain a certain level of opiates, evidenced by lab analysis, to make it illegal. For example, Toronto-area police seized more than 27 kilograms of dode in October, but say they need test results on the substance before they can lay charges.