Pubdate: Mon, 23 Mar 2015
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Authors: Pula Davis, Wayne Laugesen, Christine Tatum
Series: Special report, 'Clearing the Haze:'

AUTHORITIES ALARMED OVER INCREASE IN HASH OIL EXPLOSIONS

It's known as wax, shatter, honey oil or, simply, BHO - butane hash oil.

Making it is legal in Colorado, but the process of extracting highly 
potent hash oil from marijuana plants using butane is highly 
dangerous. And it might be going on next door.

Proponents of Amendment 64 said legalizing recreational sales and use 
of marijuana would stifle the black market in Colorado. That is not 
the case; crime statistics indicate we have more to learn about the 
long-term effects of legal pot on public safety and other concerns.

Data indicate there is new black market trafficking across the 
country as a result of legalized pot sales in Colorado. Other safety 
concerns surrounding concentrates and their manufacture are 
consequences of legalization that were never anticipated.

The number of hash oil explosions in Colorado nearly tripled in the 
first year of the legalization of marijuana - 32 reported explosions 
in 2014 versus 12 in 2013, according to data collected from the Rocky 
Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program. And people 
admitting themselves to the University of Colorado Hospital Burn Unit 
went from one in 2011 to 10 in the first four months of 2014.

The increases were so alarming that Thornton police Sgt. Pat Long 
took it upon himself to develop a training program to educate law 
enforcement, firefighters and other first responders about the 
process and the inherent dangers of extracting nearly pure THC from marijuana.

So far, about 2,500 people in eight states have attended the 
training, including officers in the Pikes Peak region - one who cited 
it in court records regarding an explosion in Manitou Springs in May:

"While approaching the residence I observed several windows to the 
residence had been blown out and were lying on the ground," the 
Manitou Springs officer wrote. "Visible from the outside is the 
kitchen area. I observed the refrigerator door was broken off the 
hinges. It appeared that something inside the refrigerator had 
exploded and the contents were lying on the floor below."

Long said he first heard about hash oil extractions a little more 
than a year ago, when Thornton police and firefighters responded to a 
residential fire but didn't know the cause.

"There was no logical explanation of why a freezer would blow up," he 
said of that incident.

"This whole hash oil stuff was so new - our department had no idea 
about it, no training, so I actually talked with our fire department 
and I started making phone calls to various fire agencies," he said.

"What I was learning is most law enforcement and fire agencies missed 
their first one or two explosions before they knew what it was."

Now, Thornton has an ordinance prohibiting the use of any flammable 
solvent in a hash oil extraction, and a similar ordinance may be 
coming in Colorado Springs: City Fire Marshal Brett Lacey plans to 
propose an ordinance that will ban extraction of marijuana hashish 
oil in residences.

In addition to the case in Manitou Springs in May, news reports in 
The Gazette also cite at least three other local incidents - one more 
than a year ago when a man caused an explosion in an apartment on 
East Pikes Peak Avenue, another when a man was arrested in March 2014 
after an explosion on University Drive, and most recently, a home 
fire in the Cragmoor neighborhood in late February.

The process of extracting hash oil involves forcing butane - a 
volatile and explosive solvent - through a glass tube filled with 
marijuana. What results is a highly potent THC stripped from the 
plant. But something as simple as a spark or a pilot light - even 
static electricity - can trigger an explosion.

"It's a process that's too dangerous for amateurs to undertake on 
their own," said Sgt. Jeff Bredehoeft, training manager for the Rocky 
Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. "They're not doing it 
correctly and they're doing it hastily, and when you mix those two 
things together, you're going to have problems."

[sidebar]

About the series

The reporting team: editorial board members Pula Davis and Wayne 
Laugesen and local reporter Christine Tatum.

After the first year of recreational pot sales, The Gazette takes a 
comprehensive look at the unintended consequences of legalizing sales 
and use of recreational marijuana.

Day 1: Colorado has a fragile scheme for regulating legal marijuana 
and implementing a state drug prevention strategy.

Day 2: One of the suppositions about legalizing pot was that 
underground sales would be curtailed, but officials say there is 
evidence of a thriving black market.

Day 3: One teen's struggle to overcome his marijuana addiction shows 
how devastating the drug can be for younger, more vulnerable users. 
And employers face new workplace issues.

Day 4: Amid the hoopla about recreational marijuana sales, the 
medical marijuana industry is flourishing and has its own set of 
complicated concerns.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom