As Colorado tightens restrictions on the sale of marijuana edibles, the problems with pot candies have reached other states. Children all around the country have accidentally eaten pot-infused sweets and turned up in hospital emergency rooms. Continue reading Marijuana gummy bears make children sick throughout country→
Tracking Deaths from Hash Oil Labs Exposes the Growing Danger
People use marijuana to make butane hash oil , also called honey oil. Hash oil labs using marijuana have replaced meth labs as the most dangerous drug labs of our time. They are blowing up people and homes, particularly in California and in the West.
By April, 2015, the California Alliance of Drug-Endangered Children had tracked 41 marijuana lab deaths in that state between 2011 and April, 2015. Three children had died by that time and several more were injured. More recent information on the deaths in California aren’t available at this time.
In California, they call it “honey oil” to disguise its connection to marijuana. When fires are reported on the news, reporters often don’t mention the connection to marijuana.
Above and top, explosion in New York on September 27, 2016. Fire Captain Michael Fahy died after fighting the blaze. Fire fighters claim drug lab fires are more difficult to put out than ordinary house fires, because of the way debris shoots and explodes. Photos WABC-TV, via AP
2 allegedly died after the Rio Dell fire on November 9, 2016. The burns covered 90% of their bodies. At least 22 hash oil explosions have occurred in California since the vote to legalize marijuana on November 8, 2016.
Legal, legitimate Labs also Explode, Resulting Lawsuits
Advocates will say these deaths will stop if it’s regulated and allowed only in state-licensed dispensaries. However, fires have occurred in licensed dispensaries in California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan and New Mexico. The lab that exploded in New Mexico was one the state’s largest marijuana companies. One of the workers who suffered from extensive burns in the fire sued the dispensary.
Michigan or Rhode Island could be the next state to legalize marijuana. However, Michigan has seen its share of hash oil explosions, most of them caused by medical marijuana patients. The one in Grand Rapids occurred with a six-year-old child in the home. Firefighters fighting this type of fire, such as the one in Muskegon, find them more dangerous than regular house fires. Child abuse is always a concern at these labs, and two children were present during the recent fire in Niles Township, Michigan.
We believe the regulation of butane will be very difficult, just like all other regulation programs that try to regulate these labs: https://www.facebook.com/lostcoastoutpost/videos. In short, regulating marijuana dispensaries is a terrible task. It doesn’t work.