Another Hash Oil Explosion in Pyuallup, Washington
The video is jerky, it’s just a neighbor holding a video camera as he runs through the woods. Through the trees, you can see flames and hear one explosion after another—dozens of them. The man holding the camera yells at a person near the burning house, “Are you guys all right?” Sirens can be heard approaching.
The scene gets quieter as the explosions stop but the burning continues. It’s hard to tell if those people in the distance are residents or curious neighbors. The scene empties out before the sirens stop, indicating that a police car has arrived. A couple of extra-loud explosions go off belatedly with bursts of flame.
This is the latest scene where a group of people trying to extract tetrahydrocannabinol from marijuana lost control of the process and caused an explosion. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana. Growers are working hard to increase the THC content of their marijuana because the more THC content, the more they can charge. When you buy marijuana from Mexico, the THC content might be about 11%. Medical marijuana will run much higher, maybe 25% or higher.
The problem is the butane. This is the solvent that will pull the intoxicating THC out of the leaves. The result is a butter-like substance known as “hash oil.” Hash oil is far more powerful than marijuana—it contains as much as 80% THC and can be smoked for a very powerful effect.
But butane is highly flammable. When you’re using butane for this process, the gas tends to collect in the air. Any kind of spark can result in an explosion like this one in Pyuallup, Washington, a rural town not far from Seattle.
News reports after the event reported that four people fled the scene before the police arrived. One of the people living in the house before the explosion was a four-year-old child.
When the flames died down and a news photographer got in to take some pictures, the yard was littered with hundreds of cans of butane that had been scattered by the explosion.
Increasing Numbers of Incidents
The same month in Manitou Springs, Colorado, parents of another small child were charged with child abuse after their home exploded during a hash oil extraction process. This was the latest in 31 explosions in the state in less than five months since the legalization of recreational marijuana. Like methamphetamine labs, these explosions are injuring people. Ten people have been treated at Colorado’s only certified adult burn center.
Addiction is not the only injury that accompanies drug abuse. There’s also burns from meth labs and hash oil, as well as traffic injuries and fatalities and assaults for reasons related to the possession and dealing of drugs. On top of those types of harm, there’s a variety of health risks associated with each type of drug. If you’d like more information on these risks, you can visit the section on the health risks of drug abuse at https://www.narconon.org/drug-abuse/health-risks.html.
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