Exactly two years ago today a hash oil explosion in Bellevue destroyed 10 apartment units just outside of Seattle. Three men started the fire at 6:20 a.m. by using butane to extract the hash oil from marijuana. One hundred police and fire fighters were called to battle the fire which lasted several hours and injured seven.
Despite this extensive damage and the use of 100 police and fire attendants at the scene, the sheriff of King County, Washington made television commercials in favor of Oregon’s Measure 91, the 2014 ballot to legalize marijuana in Oregon. It passed. Interesting!
Nan Campbell, former mayor of Bellevue died in the fire after suffering from a broken pelvis. Other residents ended up with broken bones, after jumping out of 2nd and 3rd story windows. Originally it was thought that the injuries were not life-threatening, but Campbell died. Continue reading Bellevue’s Massive BHO Fire: Two Year’s Later→
Called BHO labs for short, the term is used to describe how amateur chemists use fire to extract the potent hash oil from the marijuana plant. Other nicknames for BHO are “honey oiI,” “dabs,” “wax” Continue reading 4 Die from California BHO Lab Fires, 32 in 2014→
Since 2011, at least 68 people were treated for burns caused by butane hash oil fires and explosions, at northern California burn centers, including Shriners Hospital for Children, Sacramento, and at the UC Davis Regional Burn Center.
Usually those making BHO suffer the most, but several times it has happened at homes with children. The most recent baby who was badly burned in a hash oil (BHO) explosion was a 19-month old boy at a student housing complex in Montana. The law has not kept up with the problem, as parents who engage in this deadly practice still have custody and visitation rights. Children are threatened by neighbors who do it, too.
Thanks to quick emergency response and to the quality of emergency medical treatment available in the United States, it appears that all of the children have survived. However, we have raised a group of young adults who are so accustomed to hearing “marijuana is safe” that they have no notion of the need to protect children from the dangers pot involves.
Get the Parents Opposed to Pot Hash Oil Facts! Download our new flyer, which describes the hash oil explosions in states which have permissive marijuana laws: POPPOT-Hash Oil Statistics.
It also happened last year in a state without a legal marijuana program. In Pennsylvania woman pled guilty to leaving her 3-year-old twins to die in a fire while she left the house to see whether her marijuana had been stolen by her 15-year-old daughter. Police say the boys turned on a burner on a grease-covered stove, sparking flames that soon engulfed the house.
Oregon recently enacted a law forbidding daycare employees and operators from using medical marijuana. Let’s hope other states follow suit, and that, in family courts, states do not give custody and visitation rights to marijuana-using parents, especially those making BHO.
As California Gov Jerry Brown has said, the world is too dangerous a place for Americans not be alert by using pot. This concept applies to parenthood. Parenthood is too large a responsibility for us not to protect our children. We need not expose small children to the manufacture of BHO or put them in the care of parents who prioritize marijuana over their children. However, when neighbors make hash oil, parents may have no warnings.
Our tolerance for marijuana has taught a new generation of young adults that marijuana is safe. Making BHO is mainly done in western states, but the explosions have happened in Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, Florida, Chicago, Michigan, Virginia, Houston. It will spread east if we don’t watch out. No longer should anyone say, “safer than alcohol” or “it’s just pot.” We have sent the wrong message, and need to replace it with a message that parenting and pot use do not mix.
On Tuesday, two men and one woman were arrested in Arroyo Grande, after detectives served a search warrant for a home with a butane honey oil conversion lab. A 10-month old baby was found sleeping on a mattress surrounded by marijuana, pipes and broken glass. There was also a 12-year old and a 15-year old in the home.
Making BHO is becoming increasingly popular because VAPE PENs are now available. Tiny, potent “dabs” are put in the vape pens and go undetected because they don’t leave a smell or emit smoke. While marijuana today typical has 10-18% THC, the psychoactive element to bring the high, hash oil has up to 50-80% potency for a quicker, more lasting high.
“Honey,” “wax”, “dabs,” “budder,” “BHO,” “710,” “earwax,” and “shatter” are common terms for this trendy way to use marijuana. Makers follow online instructions, some shown on videos. Butane is the most popular way to make it, but not the only flammable product used.
Those who keep advocating for marijuana legalization need to consider the cost of public services for the explosions which mainly occur in California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.
If we have legalization, we need to think about protecting the children, and if parents who endanger their children with drug usage should lose custody and visitation rights in divorce proceedings. If marijuana is legalized, explosions wouldn’t stop, as the pot promoters like to tell us.
We need to ask why many “medical marijuana patients” are so addicted that they ask for these quick highs. Could it be that medical marijuana providers are encouraging addiction to keep them permanently incapacitated? The man in Missoula had been burned previously, yet he continued to make hash oil, illegally. We need to recognize how addictive this marijuana extract is!
Get the Parents Opposed to Pot Hash Oil Facts! Download our new flyer, which describes the hash oil explosions in states which have permissive marijuana laws: POPPOT-Hash Oil Statistics.