Sunday's home explosion highlights issue of BHO labs in South Lake Tahoe

Sunday night's honey oil lab explosion in a South Lake Tahoe home could have been much, much worse. Neighboring homes could have burned, people could have died.

While the incident on Plum Street is still under investigation by the South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team (SLEDNET), and few details have been released, the subject is one of not only local concern, but one of national concern.

When the story emerged in South Lake Tahoe this week, many asked, what is honey oil? Honey oil, also known as hash oil, is the extracted oil from cannabis. It is also know as wax, BHO (Butane Honey Oil), dabs or any number of other nicknames. The goal is to separate the oil from the plant matter, and this is done with a solvent. Extraction machinery using carbon dioxide and ethanol are some of the safer options as they are not explosive or toxic, but the use of much cheaper (and dangerous) butane is what causes the explosions.

To make the oil, you grind up the pot, flush it with the solvent, then heat it and pressurize it to release the oil. The result is a higher concentration of THC, the main psychoactive chemical in pot, than regular buds.

The explosion in the South Lake Tahoe home was the result of a BHO lab according to SLEDNET Task Force Commander Tasha Thompson. In 2015, her team investigated four honey labs in the area. So far in 2016, they have been called out to three.

"That is not counting the numerous search warrants, probation / parole searches, and traffic stops where we are finding components of BHO labs," said Sgt. Thompson.

In a NBC Los Angeles story in 2015, the headline said: Danger Next Door: Butane Honey Oil "Fires Off Like a Bomb." The headline in the Sacramento Bee: Hash oil burns are a growing problem at UC Davis, Shriners hospitals. In Oregon: Butane hash oil: Gresham explosion shatters lives, leaving 1 dead. Out of Truckee: House explodes; Truckee man arrested for allegedly manufacturing hash oil. In Florida: Butane hash oil labs; the danger next door.

In California it is illegal to make honey oil, but legal to use with the medical marijuana laws. While smoking it may not kill you, making it can. The oil is also vaped and eaten.

Hash oil is legal in both Washington and Colorado but the homemade, do-it-yourself approach is banned. They have both seen dozens of cases of home explosions and fires linked to cooking the drug, and such accidents are happening in other parts of the country, too. Butane honey oil explosions killed more than 30 people alone in 2014 in California.

Senate Bill 212 in California, which addressed the proliferation of BHO and methamphetamine manufacturing in residential neighborhoods, was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in August, 2015. It became the law in January, 2016, making it an aggravated felony to manufacture the drugs within close proximity to occupied residences and structures.

There have been no charges yet in Sunday's case and facts may come out that the operation wasn't isolated in South Lake Tahoe.