Monster Marijuana Making Its Way Into Chicago Area

A potent, concentrated form of marijuana has made its way into the Chicago area, with drug agents reportedly seizing the intoxicant during raids and traffic stops.

Known on the street as honey oil, butter and shatter, the substance started popping up in the region about a year ago but was already well established in states such as Colorado, where marijuana can be obtained legally, said Wayne Ladd, the director of the Will County Cooperative Police Assistance Team.

A pound of marijuana leaves and stems can be reduced to as little as 10 or 15 grams of honey oil, Ladd said, and get a user incredibly high. But the potency of the drug — while troubling — is not its most disturbing aspect.

“The problem is, while they’re breaking it down, it’s very volatile,” Ladd said. “They use butane. It explodes.”

During drug raids, police have found “shatter labs” in the bedrooms of area youth, Ladd said. The makeshift labs present a risk of fire or explosion, he said.

“It’s all Internet based and kids think they can do it at home,” he said.

A Google search for “butane honey oil” returned 118,000 results, including this simple do-it-yourself recipe.

Two years, another shocking drug may — or may not have — reared its ugly head in the Chicago area. Abhin Singla, a doctor at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center, claimed he found five cases of the mythically horrible heroin substitute “crocodile” rotting patients bodies from the inside out. The Croc Doc stuck to his story despite undercover drug agents insisting they found no indication the drug ever made it to Chicagoland.