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One of the byproducts of the growing social acceptance of marijuana is exploding houses and cars.
Some marijuana users will pack the drug tightly into a glass tube or PVC pipe, pour butane through it and heat the mixture until it turns into a highly potent concentrate. But because butane is so highly flammable people have caused explosions while making the oil.
The problem has caught the attention of the
New York Times, which ran
an article on the problem on Saturday. It’s caught the attention of the
Colorado attorney general, and, locally, it’s caught the attention of Councilman Jon Snyder who has introduced an ordinance that would ban the making of butane hash oil in Spokane.
“Don't do it at home; just don't,” says Snyder. “Find a professional to extract your hash oil. Just don't do it. People compare it to home brewing or home winemaking; it's not really a comparison.”
Jon Snyder is concerned about weed in cars and people blowing things up while making hash oil.
Snyder points to several instances where
DIY butane hash oil operations have gone badly, and he says the issue is a matter of public safety
Under Snyder’s ordinance, only those with processing licenses could make butane hash oil and would they would also be required to get approved equipment, submit to an inspection and get a permit from Fire Department.
Snyder was also in Olympia last week to testify in favor of a
bill that would require pot users to stow away their stash while in the car. Snyder says that the bill, which has some opposition, is supposed to mirror current laws that prohibit open containers of alcohol in cars.
“it's aimed at passengers,” he says. “You could say that if someone is smoking pot with the windows closed there’s a chance the driver could get a psychoactive effect from the second-hand smoke.”
He says it’s also aimed at potentially difficult situations where a police officer pulls over a marijuana-perfumed car where the passenger admits to smoking but the driver insists they’re sober.
Here’s the news elsewhere:
Marijuana businesses in states that have legalized pot have run up against a big problem: banks worried about legal risks won’t serve them.
But one bank in Oregon is doing so anyway.
Another Colorado-based credit union is attempting to provide banking services to the weed industry.
Get ready for diet weed.
While you’re at it, get ready for weed sex spray.
The attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing Colorado for legalizing pot and allowing the drug to flood over its borders. The governor of Wyoming is considering
suing the federal government for letting Colorado legalize pot in the first place.
A Washington couple were investigated for abuse because they smoke pot.