Cannabis aficionados coast to coast are preparing to celebrate their newly declared holiday. The tradition day of herbal indulgence, April 20 or 420, is now joined by one dedicated specifically to imbibing in extracts and concentrates \u2014 July 10, or 710.<\/p>\n
This date was arrived at because the numerals 710 when flipped upside-down look like \u201cOIL\u201d spelled backward. While some extracts are ingestible, dropped under the tongue, the real enthusiasm here is clearly for the inhaled or \u201cdabbed\u201d variety. <\/p>\n
However, while consumers will be heating up their rigs and powering up their vapes tomorrow, it\u2019s worth discussing why the legal landscape for cannabis concentrates isn\u2019t always friendly.<\/p>\n
Extracts are generally covered by state medical marijuana laws \u2014 although it should be noted that non-medical use or possession of concentrates in any quantity is a felony in Florida (while up to 20 grams of herbaceous cannabis is a misdemeanor).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally settling a question that had consternated the Arizona medical marijuana program since it was launched nearly a decade ago, the\u00a0state\u2019s supreme court ruled<\/a>\u00a0in May that the program does indeed cover concentrates and extracts, to the disappointment of some recalcitrant county prosecutors who had refused to recognize this. The decision was hailed as a victory for patients who use edibles, tinctures or hashish \u2014 but it must also apply to dabs, honey oil,\u00a0shatter<\/a>\u00a0and the like.<\/p>\n These products are also covered, either explicitly for by default, in states that have generally legalized adult-use cannabis. The\u00a0Chicago Sun Times<\/a>\u00a0notes the new law in Illinois allows those over 21 years old to possess 30 grams (just over an ounce) of herbaceous cannabis, and 5 grams (less than a quarter-ounce) of concentrates such as hash oil. Additionally, Illinoisans will be allowed to hold up to 500 milligrams of THC in a cannabis-infused product.\u00a0<\/p>\n The question of production, however, is a little stickier \u2014 and contentious due to the risks when flammable substances such as butane are involved.<\/p>\n Under California\u2019s 2016 Proposition 64, adults can possess 8 grams of concentrated cannabis (compared to 28.5 grams, or about one ounce, of herbaceous cannabis). Possession of more than 8 grams it is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Production of such concentrates is also legal at home \u2014 but only as long as \u201cvolatile\u201d agents such as butane are not used.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before Prop 64, the law had taken various permutations concerning use and production of extracts under the state medical marijuana program. The 2008 state court decision in\u00a0People v. Bergen<\/a><\/em>\u00a0determined that medical use was not a defense against the charge of using chemical extraction to manufacture a controlled substance. In 2015, the state legislature passed the\u00a0Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act<\/a>, creating a dual state and local license for extract production. Later that year, the legislature\u00a0stiffened the penalties<\/a>\u00a0for butane hash oil production at home but also passed\u00a0Assembly Bill 2679<\/a>, which\u00a0allows production in professional labs<\/a>, even using such \u201cvolatile\u201d agents, under state regulation.<\/p>\n And the need for state regulation has certainly been amply demonstrated. The California Division of Occupational Safety & Health (Cal OSHA<\/a>) imposed fines after a worker was burned in a propane explosion at Future2 Labs in Watsonville late last year,\u00a0Workers Comp Central<\/a>\u00a0reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n And the state continues to tighten the circle on the outlaw operators. Selling non-oxidized butane in large amounts is now illegal under a state law that\u00a0took effect<\/a>\u00a0last week \u2014 a measure specifically aimed at unauthorized\u00a0butane extraction<\/a>.<\/p>\n The federal Drug Enforcement Administration continues to raid illicit concentrate producers in California. After a hash oil lab exploded in the town of El Cajon in May, local\u00a07 San Diego<\/a>\u00a0reported that the DEA carried out 31 such raids in the San Diego County in 2018 and 19 just in the first five months of this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n A report for\u00a0Politico<\/a>\u00a0in February noted how other states are grappling with this problem \u2014 and how explosions and fires at extraction facilities are making bad press for the cannabis industry. \u201cIn the 33 states where the drug is legal for medical or recreational use, at least 10 fires or explosions have occurred in the past five years at facilities that extract hash oil used in edible products. Nearly all resulted in serious injuries for production-line staff.\u201d<\/p>\n An explosion at a hash oil facility in Royal Oak, Michigan, left a worker in critical condition in March. The incident is being investigated as a workplace accident, local\u00a0WWJ-950<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n In 2016, a medical marijuana dispensary in Santa Fe was fined for safety violations after an explosion badly burned two workers. The\u00a0Albuquerque Journal<\/a>\u00a0reported that the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA<\/a>)\u00a0ordered\u00a0New MexiCann Natural Medicine<\/a>\u00a0to pay fines totaling $13,500.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are ways to make cannabis concentrates that don\u2019t involve the use of flammable solvents, such as\u00a0ice-water extraction<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0rosin pressing<\/a>. These can be done safely at home, and are explicitly suggested by the\u00a0Colorado state government website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then there are concerns about the actual risks inhaling smoke or vapor from extracts, brought into focus by the\u00a0lurid national headlines<\/a>\u00a0after a Louisiana coroner declared a local woman\u2019s death to be the first on record attributed to an overdose of cannabis \u2014 specifically, it was claimed, a highly concentrated extract. Medical experts and even federal officials as well as cannabis advocates were highly skeptical of the claim.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, as old-school tokers point out, the notion of an \u201coverdose\u201d isn\u2019t even an issue with herbaceous marijuana. It is incumbent upon consumers to understand that extracts are far more potent than good old-fashioned dried cannabis flower, and should be treated with respect. Many make the analogy to the difference between wine and hard liquor. Cautious and responsible use by consumers is no less mandated than high safety standards in production.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, are you celebrating 710?<\/p>\n The post Cannabis Concentrates Get a Holiday in 710 \u2014 But Are They Legal?<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Cannabis aficionados coast to coast are preparing to celebrate their newly declared holiday. The tradition day of herbal indulgence, April 20 or 420, is now joined by one dedicated specifically to imbibing in extracts and concentrates \u2014 July 10, or 710. This date was arrived at because the numerals 710Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[584,50,943,240,11209,555,1205,90,4409,2111,585],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36656,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36655\/revisions\/36656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Labs Regulated in California\u00a0<\/h4>\n
Explosions in the News<\/h4>\n
The Overdose Hype<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Cannabis Concentrates Get a Holiday in 710 \u2014 But Are They Legal?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"