Editor’s note: This story was updated and expanded March 9, 2016, at 6:45 p.m.
[W]INOOSKI — An anonymous tip led officials to what they are describing as a butane hash extraction lab inside an apartment at 30 Main St. in the heart of downtown, police said.
Officers said they have identified suspects, but no one had been arrested or charged by the time of publication Wednesday.
The discovery Tuesday afternoon led to the evacuation of the building and several neighboring structures as a precaution. Traffic through the downtown rotary was also blocked until roughly 11 p.m. as multiple emergency response and law enforcement agencies processed the scene.
Winooski Police Lt. Scott McGivern said the evacuation and multi-agency response, including the Vermont Hazardous Materials Response Team, was warranted because the extraction process poses a serious public safety threat.
The process involves using butane to pull the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, out of marijuana plants. That yields a more potent drug.
“Production of (butane hash oil) is equally as volatile as the production of methamphetamine,” and there are documented cases in other states of explosions at such labs killing people, McGivern said.
“These type of investigations require a significant amount of resources and manpower,” he said.
A tenant in the upstairs apartment allowed the Winooski fire chief and director of code enforcement to enter the apartment Tuesday afternoon after being contacted by police, McGivern said.
Inside the apartment they found “raw materials, equipment and the final product” involved in producing butane hash oil, which is commonly referred to as dabs, shatter or oil.
The tenant who let officers into the apartment is considered a suspect in a potential crime, McGivern said, and Winooski detectives have identified other suspects.
There is no law in Vermont against making butane hash, but possessing more than an ounce of marijuana or more than five grams of hash is a crime. Smaller amounts of either are a civil infraction.
McGivern did not say how many suspects there are, when they might be arrested or what charges they would face. He also did not say how much marijuana or hash oil was discovered at the apartment.
Items recovered at the scene are being sent to the Vermont Forensic Laboratory for analysis, and the investigation is ongoing, McGivern said.
State Police Lt. Reg Trayah, commander of the clandestine lab unit, said Vermont is seeing an uptick in butane hash production, but the operations uncovered by police are small and appear to be mostly for personal use.
As a result, he said, most people who are found processing butane hash aren’t charged with intent to distribute, a more serious crime, and some have walked away with only a civil infraction similar to a speeding ticket.
Police have found one other hash oil operation this year. Trayah estimated four or five such labs were busted in 2015, but just two years ago such labs were unheard of in the state.
Trayah, whose unit helped with the Winooski operation, said it was typical of the hash oil operations he’s seen. He could not say precisely how much hash was being made.
The other recent bust involved a Berkshire man who was charged with marijuana possession and child endangerment after state police said they found a similar operation in Franklin County. Police also said they found 4 pounds of marijuana in that case.
The appeal to users is a far more intense high than just smoking the plant, Trayah said, but the people making it may not be aware of the potential danger.
Trayah said he’s not aware of any butane explosions resulting from the making of hash oil in Vermont. If there were an explosion, police may not hear about it unless it was severe enough to send someone to the hospital.
Both Trayah and McGivern said they believe the state should make it a crime to process butane hash.
The Senate-passed marijuana legalization bill, S.241, would make it a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and a $2,000 fine to process butane hash without a license issued by the state. The penalties increase to up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if anyone is injured in the production process.
The wife of the man arrested on suspicion of processing butane hash oil in Berkshire told Eli Harrington, who has a website covering pot, that she felt it was misleading to call the setup her husband had in an unattached carport at their home a clandestine lab.
“He’s got a good job and he’s only home a few days a week. Saying he’s running a lab and endangering our kids isn’t true,” she said of her husband, according to Harrington.
Trayah said law enforcement considers a clandestine lab to be any situation where chemicals and equipment are used to create a drug in an uncontrolled setting or without a license. Making butane hash fits that definition, he said.
People making butane hash typically take otherwise unusable marijuana — the shakings, stems or leaves — and spray butane onto it. The butane that washes through the marijuana and collects is then cooked off, Trayah said.
The sticky substance that is left is smoked, he said.
The problem is that when butane cooks off it’s heavier than oxygen, causing it to settle, Trayah said.
If enough butane collects, especially in an enclosed area, then the open flame from a gas stove or a spark from the compressor on a refrigerator could ignite the butane and produce “a large fireball,” Trayah said.
State police encourage anyone with information regarding marijuana extraction labs to contact their local law enforcement agency because of the risk to the public.
Elizabeth Hewitt contributed reporting to this story.
