Every cannabis consumer knows that cannabis concentrate is nothing more than what its name implies. That is to say, it is concentrated cannabis. You may be wondering why I am explaining such a simple concept as this. I agree that this should go without saying but the laws in parts of the United States suggest otherwise. There are places in the U.S. where possessing cannabis flower is considered a minor crime but possessing hashish or hash oil is considered a major one. In Texas, for example, even possessing cannabutter (or the baked goods that you used it in) will get you charged with the same crime you would have been charged with if you were caught with the equivalent weight of heroin.
The effects of this ridiculous double standard can destroy lives. In 2014, a Texas teenager potentially faced life in prison for possessing pot brownies (I'll provide a link to the story below). Because the brownies were made with hash oil, they were treated as a "hard drug" and because the laws are nonsensical and unjust, the authorities were able to count not the hash oil itself but also the eggs, sugar, flour and baking pan and use their weight to seek a harsher penalty. Only after some public outcry took place, did the court reduce his charge. This was real no victory, however, because as the article (linked to below) states he could still face twenty years in prison.
The media plays a role in this double standard as well. We all know that they value sensationalism above all else and they have treated cannabis concentrate as a new "boogie man" to scare the ignorant. I constantly read stories about the "dangerous new trend" of making hash oil. They almost always over estimate its strength. I once read a laughable article that said it was 10,000 times stronger than flower which makes me wonder how weak they think weed really is. They also always to fail to mention that this "new" trend is rather old. I used to know some old hippies who told stories about making hash oil with petroleum ether filtered charcoal in the 1960's. Calling it "new" only serves to make it seem scary which in turn makes reforming unjust laws harder.
This is an issue that needs to be addressed. If you are knowledgeable about cannabis, I suggest trying to correct any misinformation when you see an opportunity to do so. Cannabis laws are getting better but we need to make sure cannabis concentrate isn't left out in the cold.
Peace.
This is the second in a continuing series of brief posts that are intended to highlight some of the more nonsensical aspects of the drug war. If you liked this, feel free check out my page for similar content.
All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.
You can read more about the case of the Texas teen here:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/36539/texas-teen-no-longer-faces-life-in-prison-for-pot-brownies/