Forget regular weed, the new thing on the street is smoking hash oil (BHO) also known as butter, honey or wax. It is a concentrated form of marijuana resin oil mixed with butane that High Times magazine has called a “a quantum leap forward in stoner evolution.” But the production of it has sent people to hospitals and caused some homes to blow up.
Making “Butane Hash Oil” or BHO — as the product is originally known by — is highly dangerous and easy to make. It involves mixing weed, air and butane until the resin oil is extracted, because butane is heavier than air, pockets of the highly flammable gas can remain. These vapors can be ignited by static electricity and cause fires and explosions, sending people to the burn units of hospitals.
The people who use “BHO” are called “dabbers” because only a small piece or “dab” of the product is heated and inhaled at THC concentrations that reach as high as 90 percent. Compare that with the 13 percent THC concentration of high grade weed known as “loud” or “kush,” and you have a product that costs as much as a gram of gold. In Colorado where marijuana is legal, the University of Colorado Hospital which operated the states severe burn unit has reported a significant increase in patients with marijuana related burns. In addition to the number of explosions at home, THC extraction labs have more than doubled to 32 statewide according to law enforcement intelligence analysts. This puts the explosions on the same level as meth labs.
Persons who are regular users of the drug also encounter significant pain when it comes to severe burns. Management of pain becomes an issue because regular “dabbers” have a high tolerance for narcotic pain relievers and suffer from marijuana withdrawal.
