Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Scott Woodham

ARE HOMEMADE POT BUTTER AND WATER HASH OFF LIMITS UNDER ANCHORAGE 
CONCENTRATES ORDINANCE?

Our question today involves Anchorage Municipal Ordinance 8.35.350, 
section 1, which reads as follows:

It is unlawful for any person to manufacture a marijuana concentrate, 
hashish, or hash oil by use of solvents containing compressed 
flammable gases or through use of a solvent-based extraction method 
using a substance other than vegetable glycerin, unless the person is 
validly licensed and permitted in accordance with statute, 
regulation, or ordinance.

A reader going by the name "Heckuva Job, Brownie" wonders, "Does that 
mean no cold water hash or pot butter brownies, as both water and 
butter are not 'vegetable glycerins'? You HAVE to use a vegetable 
oil? Am I misunderstanding the terminology? Margarine brownies are 
OK; butter brownies are not?"

The short answer is yes, you're misunderstanding the terminology, but 
you're forgiven. Under the Anchorage ordinance, and substantially 
similar ones that have been adopted by other jurisdictions, like 
Yakutat for one, it's OK to make cold water hash and pot butter 
brownies without a permit or license, when those eventually become 
available. Don't let the "vegetable" throw you either. Glycerin is 
not a vegetable oil.

Concentration methods that involve water, dry ice, edible oils (like 
butter, olive, or coconut oil), mechanical separation, or any 
non-flammable, non-solvent-based process are not prohibited under the 
ordinance, according to Municipal Attorney Seneca Theno, a prosecutor 
who helped draft the ordinance.

She said the idea was to make certain dangerous processes off limits 
to amateurs. The idea wasn't to prohibit people from making water 
hash to economize a home garden, for instance, or to force anyone to 
use margarine in their pot brownies. (Side note: Eew. Butter equals love.)

The list of "whereas" clauses in the ordinance's preamble make it 
clear that the intent of the ordinance is to prevent the home fires 
and explosions that have happened elsewhere, most notably in 
Colorado. And those clauses must be taken into account when reading 
the ordinance.

So if your extraction process poses an explosion or fire hazard, 
you're in violation and could face penalties. The ordinance treats a 
violation as a Class A misdemeanor, and provides for the possibility 
of seizure of the cannabis, any finished concentrates, and any 
apparatuses or equipment that may be part of the scenario.

So, that's the quick and dirty of it. But let's look closer at that 
misunderstanding. Theno told me that the question Brownie asks came 
up during the process to create and pass this ordinance. So he's not 
alone. Brownie also included a reference to the city's 
pot-information website, "Know your Grow," part of which may be 
adding to the confusion.

With apologies to science teachers everywhere

As we all learned in science classes, a "solvent" broadly defined is 
any substance, usually a liquid, that is capable of dissolving 
another substance to create a solution.

By that broad definition, water is certainly a solvent. So are paint 
thinner, acetone, naptha and alcohol. And in the case of fat-soluable 
cannabinoids, butter, margarine and other oils are too. Glycerin (a 
sugar alcohol) also acts as a solvent when it comes to pot's active 
ingredients. However, the term "solvent" here is narrower than the 
standard chemical definition because it involves legal intent.

"The idea was to prohibit certain methods, not prohibit extraction 
itself," Theno said. "Lots of things can be considered a solvent. But 
we don't think of (water or butter) as a solvent in this context. 
We're really looking at the flammables and the unsafe solvent-based 
methods of extraction."

So the municipal ordinance isn't talking about all solvents, just the 
ones that figure in processes that pose a danger to individuals and 
public safety. Theno said that glycerin was specifically excluded 
from the ban because it was one method that came up during the 
learning process which involved something that qualified as a solvent 
in their minds, but whose process didn't pose a fire or explosion hazard.

To make glycerin concentrate, the process is essentially to let some 
dried trimmings or buds to sit around in some food-grade glycerin, 
then filter out the bits and pieces and refrigerate the solution. No 
heat, fire hazard or boom-potential. Other solvents used in 
concentration methods, like alcohol, butane, and so on, are more 
hazardous because they typically involve heat and flammable vapor. 
Two aspiring hash oil cooks in North Pole found that out the hard way 
in December. Although the dwelling sustained a good deal of damage, 
luckily, neither of them was injured.

According to the authorities, they were trying to make hash oil with 
a butane process. And scenarios like that are what the Anchorage 
ordinance aims to prevent, but other parts of the ordinance or the 
city's website may be adding to the confusion.

The means of production

The city's information site, "Know your Grow," lists substances the 
ordinance defines as "marijuana concentrates," but some of the 
substances named aren't typically created by solvent-based methods. 
"Marijuana concentrate means any product which, through manufacture, 
contains THC. Common names and types of product include "shatter," 
butane or CO2 hash oil, 'ring pots,' butter, hash, hashish, keif, oil, or wax."

Hash, kief and hashish are terms that encompass a variety of 
products, but most of them are made by amateurs with mechanical, not 
chemical means. Medical and commercial grade hash processes have 
reached a high level of sophistication lately, and the products' 
purity can be amazing, but home hash production is still possible 
using the same old methods. That may be a source of confusion for 
people in the know.

For folks who don't know, kief is essentially a greenish-blondish 
powder made mainly of the resin-containing glands (trichomes) that 
have been separated from the flowers, stems and leaves of the 
cannabis plant. There are a variety of separation methods that don't 
involve flammable solvents, grinders and kief boxes to name two 
old-school ones. People sprinkle it straight on to smokable flowers 
as a powder to add potency when vaporizing or smoking. It can also be 
compressed, pounded or kneaded into hash or hashish, sometimes, 
though less commonly, involving a bit of heat to assist the process. 
Depending on the method involved, the product can range in color from 
greenish blond to black.

Also depending on the hash-making process, alcohol may be involved as 
a solvent to ease separation of the raw material, and in that case, 
that process would appear to be off limits according to the 
ordinance. But what if the filtered alcohol-cannabis solution is 
evaporated over several days sitting open at room temperature in a 
well-ventilated place instead of rapidly on a stove top? That method 
would still seem a violation because alcohol is a flammable solvent 
even when it just sits there.

Mechanically-based hash making processes have been happening for 
thousands of years in some parts of the world. And they're 
time-consuming. Other techniques using the same mechanical action, 
like cold-water, bubble or dry ice hash are much faster and involve 
less work, but are still time-consuming. Because elbow grease isn't 
flammable, none of these methods pose a fire or explosion hazard.

Ring pots? Come again?

Another potential confusion created by the ordinance's definition 
comes from the term "ring pots" being included in the list of 
concentrates. Cannabis enthusiasts are likely to be familiar with 
every other term in the list of concentrates except that one. Ring 
pots? What? Like something you smash at a wedding?

But it turns out "ring pots" aren't any kind of marijuana concentrate 
at all. They're a kind of candy that caused a stir a while back, and 
they don't have any intoxicating properties at all beyond a sugar 
buzz. Contents: Zero marijuanas. Just a marketing gimmick.

On a web-search, I found two other references to "ring pots" in 
Alaska public documents, but there may be others out there. The 
phrase seems to have legs. One occurred in a City and Borough of 
Yakutat draft ordinance very similar to the Anchorage ordinance. 
Yakutat Borough Clerk Cathy Bremner said the proposal passed with two 
small language amendments that related to fines. The other instance 
can be found in the opposition statement included in Legislative 
Affairs' neutral pro-con statement presenting Ballot Measure 2.

Maybe the phrase "ring pots" (or the misspelling of kief, for that 
matter) will be removed from the ordinances, and maybe not. There 
will be a fair amount of adjustment to these ordinances as time goes 
on. But in my opinion, it's not in immediate need of revision. There 
is absolutely no danger of anyone violating the ordinance by trying 
to replicate ring pots at home. Candy-making does not involve 
flammable or pressurized solvents. Candy burns can be nasty, as many 
chefs can attest to, but the only explosion hazard it poses is to our 
waistlines.

So, the ordinance doesn't prevent Anchorage residents from making pot 
butter or mechanical hash without a license or permit, but they just 
can't do anything that could set fire to their home or blow anyone or 
anything up.

Have a question about marijuana news or culture in Alaska? Send it to  with "Highly Informed" in the subject line.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom