Making your own marijuana extracts risk more than explosions

On Behalf of | Nov 7, 2017 | blog |

People trying to make marijuana extracts, particularly butane hash oil, often end up making the news. The reason is because failure to adhere to safety best practices for this process can result in a dangerous and dramatic explosion. When that happens, the person making the butane hash oil could face serious criminal charges related both to the marijuana extracts and to the property damage that resulted. Insurance may not cover the explosion because it resulted from illegal activity.

In Texas, making marijuana extracts is a felony, but that doesn’t stop people from trying to do this complicated chemical process at home. The process involved in creating marijuana extracts requires the use of a chemical solvent. In most cases, these solvents are dangerous chemicals. They can cause health issues if inhaled or consumed, and they can turn your home into a pile of smoldering rubble. Without adequate ventilation, these chemicals could build up in a home, shed or garage and spark from something as minor as a static electricity discharge.

Even without an explosion, you’re taking a major risk

There are valid reasons why people may need a marijuana extract. Perhaps you or someone you love has intractable epilepsy, and you need more potent marijuana products to suppress the seizures. Maybe you’re trying to offset chemotherapy sickness or even help kill the tumor in a cancer patient. Sadly, the state of Texas won’t care about your motivation or good intentions. You could end up spending a lot of time in prison.

Texas lawmakers and law enforcement take a particularly dim view of marijuana extracts. Possessing any amount is a felony, as is making or selling it. The charges an individual will face for making concentrates or extracts will depend on the weight of the marijuana extract produced. Any amount is enough to result in six months of jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

The more you make, the more jail time you risk

For those found to be in possession of less than one gram, the penalties include between 180 days and two years in jail, as well as a $10,000 fine. Although the fine remains the same for higher weights, the potential jail time increases substantially. Those caught with between one and four grams could end up in jail for between two and twenty years, while those with between four and 400 grams could go to jail for between five and 99 years. Those with more than 400 grams (over 14 ounces) of marijuana extracts could face between ten years and life in prison.

Anyone who faces criminal charges related to butane hash oil, pressed hash, or other marijuana extracts or concentrates should consider every option for a criminal defense.

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