Robert Celt
New Member
As marijuana expands its presence on the East Coast, a highly concentrated form is now appearing on law enforcement radar: "shatter," a cannabis extract with about 80 percent THC content which is legal in states such as Colorado and Washington, sold in medical marijuana dispensaries in other states, and is more fast-acting and easily concealed than standard smoked marijuana.
On Monday, Loudoun County, Va., sheriff's deputies intercepted a truck near Dulles International Airport which had about $900,000 worth of packaged marijuana. Included in that load was 15 pounds of shatter, in total packaged weight. Shatter, which is sold by the gram because of its potency, retails for about $60 per gram in Colorado, so 10 pounds of shatter would be worth nearly $270,000 - in a state where it's legal. Black-market shatter likely would cost much more.
Shatter is a form of marijuana wax, derived from butane hash oil, and some forms reportedly have as much as 90 percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. That is about five times the potency of unrefined smoked cannabis and more powerful than standard hash oil. It is created as a thin, hard translucent layer similar to glass, which can shatter if dropped, and it is typically heated and inhaled through a vaporizer rather than smoked.
Kraig Troxell, a Loudoun sheriff's spokesman, said his department started seeing marijuana wax about a year ago. He said a national cargo transportation company was used to transport the marijuana to Loudoun, which then was picked up by a driver in a rented truck, who was arrested near the Dulles Greenway and Old Ox Road. Troxell did not know where the shipment originated. He said Monday's seizure was the largest amount they had found so far.
Though the high potency of shatter is troubling to parents and law enforcement officials, marijuana advocates point out that no one has ever died from ingesting marijuana. "As long as people are educated about the proper dosage," said Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, "it hasn't presented any problem." He likened the difference between shatter and regular marijuana to the difference between whiskey and beer.
Ry Prichard, a writer and photographer for the Denver Post's "Cannabist" blog, noted that hash oil is nothing new, but shatter is a relatively recent refinement as a result of proliferating medical and recreational cannabis programs.
"Shatter and other concentrated cannabis products," Prichard said, "give a stronger, more immediate effect and have shown to have great benefits with a variety of medical conditions because of the quick-acting nature of inhalation or vaporization." He noted that dispensaries in Colorado are now making more than half of their daily sales from concentrates, primarily in edible cannabis products.
Also troubling to authorities is the specter of amateurs attempting to make their own shatter, which involves flammable butane gas. Colorado has reported a sharp rise in the number of home explosions caused by failed attempts to make butane hash oil. Opponents of legalized marijuana say that making cannabis more available will lead to more people attempting to create their own more potent oils, such as shatter.
"Landlords, homeowners and tenants who want to protect their lives, property and fortunes need to rally against any law that will allow the commercialization of marijuana in our nation's capital," wrote landlord and blogger Kimberly Hartke in The Post in February.
Fox said legalizing and regulating marijuana was the way to protect against home hash oil extraction fires, "so businesses are doing it, instead of people making it themselves." Prichard said legal makers of shatter and other concentrates in Colorado are highly regulated, and those who make it illegally are subject to felony charges.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: 'Shatter' - Super-High Potency Pot, Now Appearing On East Coast
Author: Tom Jackman
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Sun Sentinel
On Monday, Loudoun County, Va., sheriff's deputies intercepted a truck near Dulles International Airport which had about $900,000 worth of packaged marijuana. Included in that load was 15 pounds of shatter, in total packaged weight. Shatter, which is sold by the gram because of its potency, retails for about $60 per gram in Colorado, so 10 pounds of shatter would be worth nearly $270,000 - in a state where it's legal. Black-market shatter likely would cost much more.
Shatter is a form of marijuana wax, derived from butane hash oil, and some forms reportedly have as much as 90 percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. That is about five times the potency of unrefined smoked cannabis and more powerful than standard hash oil. It is created as a thin, hard translucent layer similar to glass, which can shatter if dropped, and it is typically heated and inhaled through a vaporizer rather than smoked.
Kraig Troxell, a Loudoun sheriff's spokesman, said his department started seeing marijuana wax about a year ago. He said a national cargo transportation company was used to transport the marijuana to Loudoun, which then was picked up by a driver in a rented truck, who was arrested near the Dulles Greenway and Old Ox Road. Troxell did not know where the shipment originated. He said Monday's seizure was the largest amount they had found so far.
Though the high potency of shatter is troubling to parents and law enforcement officials, marijuana advocates point out that no one has ever died from ingesting marijuana. "As long as people are educated about the proper dosage," said Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, "it hasn't presented any problem." He likened the difference between shatter and regular marijuana to the difference between whiskey and beer.
Ry Prichard, a writer and photographer for the Denver Post's "Cannabist" blog, noted that hash oil is nothing new, but shatter is a relatively recent refinement as a result of proliferating medical and recreational cannabis programs.
"Shatter and other concentrated cannabis products," Prichard said, "give a stronger, more immediate effect and have shown to have great benefits with a variety of medical conditions because of the quick-acting nature of inhalation or vaporization." He noted that dispensaries in Colorado are now making more than half of their daily sales from concentrates, primarily in edible cannabis products.
Also troubling to authorities is the specter of amateurs attempting to make their own shatter, which involves flammable butane gas. Colorado has reported a sharp rise in the number of home explosions caused by failed attempts to make butane hash oil. Opponents of legalized marijuana say that making cannabis more available will lead to more people attempting to create their own more potent oils, such as shatter.
"Landlords, homeowners and tenants who want to protect their lives, property and fortunes need to rally against any law that will allow the commercialization of marijuana in our nation's capital," wrote landlord and blogger Kimberly Hartke in The Post in February.
Fox said legalizing and regulating marijuana was the way to protect against home hash oil extraction fires, "so businesses are doing it, instead of people making it themselves." Prichard said legal makers of shatter and other concentrates in Colorado are highly regulated, and those who make it illegally are subject to felony charges.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: 'Shatter' - Super-High Potency Pot, Now Appearing On East Coast
Author: Tom Jackman
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Sun Sentinel
