![]() If someone does consume a much greater quantity of THC than was expected, reactions could include anxiety and heart palpitations. "It's not a concern with lethal overdose, but we do know there can be an overdose on cannabis in so much as you can have a very different experience from what you're expecting that can be quite frightening and traumatic to the individual going through the experience," says Rebecca Jesseman, a senior policy adviser at the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. But now you're looking at three, four, five times more potent," says Chicoine. You don't need a big joint, you can just apply it to a regular cigarette or hot knife it or inhale the THC. "You need less so you don't need rolling paper. "The first user or the second-time user that has used THC on the street, now they think that shatter is an easier way to carry it around. These higher concentrations have raised concerns around the effects of shatter, particularly on young people. The people who are looking for the next level of high are seeking out these types of product." Some users have referred to it as smoking three joints at once. It's 30 to 90 per cent highly concentrated. "This is basically marijuana on steroids. "It's not like the marijuana that a lot of the older people remember, which was 10 or 12 per cent," says Serr. Shatter contains a much higher THC level than regular marijuana. Wherever that cannabis culture is, there are clearly those within it who are intrigued by the THC concentration of shatter, which some estimates put as high as 85 or 90 per cent. Even shatter itself isn't really that new, but the police and media are usually a few years behind where the cannabis culture is." "I think it's just a new product that's becoming more popular, although it's been on the market for several years now. "Partly I think just because the police like to make a big deal out of cannabis products and scare people," he says, noting cannabis users have been making "very potent and pure" marijuana extracts for hundreds of years. Vancouver marijuana activist Dana Larsen, on the other hand, sees a more repressive reason. People are always looking for new products, derivatives, edibles and those kinds of things," he says, noting also a "change in the culture" because of all the talk about the possible medical uses of marijuana and legalization. "I think the culture around marijuana is changing. Serr sees several reasons for the increasing attention being paid to shatter. Six of those discoveries were the result of an explosion, says Serr, In most cases, there was at least one person injured. Going back to 2013, police have come across seven marijuana oil extraction labs in the Lower Mainland. While shatter has been turning up in police reports across the country, it has emerged in particular in B.C. Shatter is sometimes produced using the solvent butane to extract the THC from the 'shake' or leftovers of the marijuana plant. "Typically shatter won't be found by itself," says Mike Serr, deputy chief constable of the Abbotsford Police Department and chair of the drug abuse committee for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. Police reports don't necessarily break out shatter separately from other forms of marijuana, although news releases sometimes mention its seizure. Tracking shatter - which can have a consistency like hard caramel or peanut brittle - across Canada is not that easy. Often it's being done in residences and in enclosed areas, and then you're increasing the risk for explosion." "The risks and the hazards related to the production of shatter are as high if not higher than a methamphetamine lab because of the amount of solvents that's being used," says Luc Chicoine, the RCMP's national drug program co-ordinator. But shatter has been drawing more public and police attention in recent months because of the potential for explosion as it is made, using the volatile solvent butane to extract the THC from the marijuana "shake" or plant leftovers. Strong marijuana derivatives like shatter are nothing new. Without knowing how much they're taking, they don't necessarily know the effects it's going to have on their mind and body." "They don't really know how much they're taking. "It's the highly variable concentration that you see where a lot of people get into dangers," says Matthew Young, a senior research and policy analyst at the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. Shatter discovered in Delta home invasion.With that potency, along with the dangers from its production, shatter is offering police and policy makers a new set of challenges, perhaps particularly as the federal government moves toward legalizing marijuana. It's been called "marijuana on steroids."Īnd it comes with a THC concentration far beyond anything a run-of-the-mill joint would offer.
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