Marijuana “dabbing,” a doubtlessly harmful means of utilizing the drug, is more and more in style, a brand new examine finds.
In accordance with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), dabbing is a technique used to transform marijuana right into a focus. It makes use of butane, which is extremely flammable, to extract THC from the hashish plant. THC is the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. This course of has resulted in violent explosions, the DEA famous.
“On this course of, shredded or floor up plant materials is stuffed right into a glass, metallic, or plastic pipe, with a filter on one finish after which the butane is pressured within the open finish of the pipe,” the DEA explains in a brochure. “Because the butane goes via the pipe, the THC inside the plant materials is extracted and compelled via the filter, often right into a receptacle. The receptacle is then heated to burn off the remaining butane, making a butane gasoline.”
A variety of fires, explosions and extreme burns have been attributable to the butane gasoline utilized in creating the dabs, in accordance with examine writer John Stogner of the College of North Carolina at Charlotte. He famous there’s a nice hazard of fireplace even when an individual doesn’t use some form of heating machine, as a result of butane gasoline can construct up in an enclosed area in the course of the course of. Even a small spark may cause an explosion.
Dabbing creates crystallized resins with a THC focus of virtually 80 %, in accordance with Stogner.
“We all know that it’s stronger than smoking marijuana,” Heather Senior, Father or mother Help Community Supervisor for the Partnership for Drug-Free Youngsters, informed HealthDay. “You don’t know what focus you’re going to be getting. It’s going to be a a lot greater dose, and youngsters may not be used to that.”
The examine seems in Pediatrics.
Picture credit score: San Antonio Police Dept., San Antonio, Texas