Know Your Drugs: Butane Honey Oil

Preface

"Honey" or "Budder"

First off, let me be clear about something: I am not detailing how BHO is made so that people will try to make it. In fact, were this basic information not readily available online, I would merely write about BHO without the bit of detail here. I include an overview of how it is made only because the process is often dangerous and deadly.

In states where Marijuana is legal to consume, BHO is presently legal, but like many substances we want to delay youth exposure for as long as possible, since early exposure raises the likelihood of negative consequences.

What is BHO?

"Wax"

Butane Honey Oil is a hash oil extraction which uses butane to strip THC from marijuana. Hash oil is not new, but the oil rendered today is more potent (as is today's marijuana), estimated at anywhere from 60% to 99% more potent than traditional marijuana. That is the other large concern I have; we simply do not know the effects of regular, large doses of THC (though one study that focused on youth consumption suggests that young people who smoke regularly--3 times a week--could lose up to 10 IQ points). There just have not been many credible adult studies.

"Shatter"

Anyway, back to BHO. It can render in several different consistencies. "Shatter" is brittle, "Wax" is akin to Play-doh, and "Budder" is more like butter. Each may be dabbed (sampled with a long, needle-like tool) and smoked with no smell in e-cigarettes. BHO is also often used in consumables.
 
These two potentials make it very attractive to students and underage consumers.

Users and Law Enforcement both refer to it as "the Crack of weed," due to its potency.

 

Don't Try This at Home

Marijuana is packed tightly into plastic, metal, PVC, or glass tubes with a hole in one end and a filter on the other.

Butane gas is then attached to the hole, and flushed through the tube. The THC, frozen and stripped from the plant material drips through the filter. The final step requires boiling the oil to release leftover Butane.

The Problem

 

Evidently, BHO is made by Ninjas. Who knew?

Sounds simple, right? The thing is, working with an explosive gas in compressed cylinders can be tricky, and boiling or baking BHO to get rid of the gas is honestly using heat on something flammable. If one is not careful—were one to cook BHO whilst “high,” for instance—the process can prove to be explosive. 

As in the case of methamphetamine labs, most often, law enforcement comes to know of a amateur BHO manufacturer only after tragedy.

The BHO Lab explosion at this apartment complex in Washington State injured several occupants of other apartments and killed one man who was resting in his own apartment. He was the former Mayor.