A High-Potency Form of Marijuana “Shatter” Becoming Popular on the East Coast

A High-Potency Form of Marijuana “Shatter” Becoming Popular on the East Coast

According to a recent report aired on Houston TV station ABC-13, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents are seeing an increase in a type of high-potency marijuana known as shatter, wax, or 710. 710 turned upside down, spells oil because it is a concentrated form of marijuana oil.

In its 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment, The Drug Enforcement Administration said that marijuana concentrates are growing in popularity and that the drug’s ease of use through portable vaporizers presented new challenges for law enforcement. DEA agents have seized many of the marijuana concentrates over the past year, which are often made by users and hidden in beauty product containers.

Shatter is legal for recreational use in the states of Colorado and Washington, and is also sold in medical marijuana dispensaries in other states, according to The Washington Post newspaper. In December, it was reported that forms of shatter are now starting to appear on East Coast of the United States.

Some varieties of shatter have been found to have as much as 90 percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. That is about five times the potency of unrefined smoked marijuana, and more powerful than standard hash oil. Shatter is a thin, hard layer that is similar to glass. It can shatter if dropped.

DEA special agent, Wendell Campbell explained that many of the concentrates are made by filtering butane, a highly flammable product, through the marijuana plant. He also commented, “If you’re looking at something that has three, five, seven, or nine percent THC content, that’s a drastic difference to somebody that is consuming something with 80 or 90 percent THC content.”

Recovering addicts report their experiences and effects after experimenting with this new high-potency marijuana as: “You become very incoherent. You can’t really function; you’re just supremely stoned,” said one recovering addict. Another reported, “It just goes straight to your head. It’s like the next level of being high.”

For more information, please visit Partnership for Drug-Free Kids at www.drugfree.org

Sources:  Join Together, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids at Drugfree.org (www.drugfree.org), WABC-TV Houston (www.abc13.com)