Year Of The Concentrate

The Winter/Spring 2013 issue of O'Shaughnessy's came out with a page-one article by Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD, under the headline “Use of 'Dabs' Gaining Popularity.” It explained:

“The popularity of high-THC 'dabs' — also known as 'waxes' — is largely a youthful and recreational phenomenon. The user inhales a small amount of vaporized and/or burned cannabis concentrate — a dab — that has been placed on a hot 'nail' with a tiny spatula or needle. A single deep inhalation has a stronger and faster psychoactive effect than any other delivery method can provide. In other words, the user gets more stoned and the dabs provide a mild 'rush’.”

Hergenrather expressed some concerns about the health impact of dabbing. Butane and other toxic solvents may leave residue on the concentrated cannabis oil inhaled by dabbers. Metals that seem inert may flake off unseen particles. Hergenrather's piece was accompanied by a memorable photo of the white-haired MD flanked by much younger dabbing-equipment manufacturers at a “Cannabis Cup” event held in Richmond, CA, in June 2012. (Some call the paraphernalia “oil rigs.”)

Dale Gieringer, the director of California NORML, emailed a note to our website, BeyondTHC.com, adding another concern — hypotension. “We have recently begun to witness 911 crews called in to handle users who have passed out from dabbing and concentrate overdoses,” Gieringer reported. “This is something I never saw until dabs become popular. I'm aware of three such incidents at a recent gathering in LA and several more at a cannabis cup in SF. A lady my age [60ish] who has been smoking since the '70s fell down and broke her front teeth after dabbing. Someone else passed out and nearly cracked his skull on the sidewalk. When 911 crews need to be called in, there arise serious questions about a drug's safety. Cannabis advocates need to take the dangers of dabbing seriously.”

In the activists' chat rooms, warnings resounded over the p.r. implications of dabbing. From far away Washington, DC, the Marijuana Policy Project's “Communications Manager” advised that by downplaying the popularity of dabs, activists might avoid “overly strict regulations on concentrates in future legislation.” She urges manufacturers of oil rigs to “conceal the heating mechanism or otherwise make the devices look less intimidating to non-users.”

I strongly disagree. You don't have to be a p.r. professional to see that dabbing blurs some distinctions between the mild herb and processed “hard drugs” that come on with a rush. The flack's suggestion to hide the inner workings of the dabbing devices is symbolic and revealing. From whom would the works actually be hidden? Ninety-times out of a hundred it will be the dabbers themselves seeing the heated nail, not some abstract opponents of drug policy reform. Hergenrather wrote, “Metals such as steel, stainless steel, or titanium might seem inert, but in fact they flake off a layer of metal with the dab.” Why hide from the users a reminder of possible harm? Why hide reality?

There's no need to spin things when you have the truth on your side. Pot partisans should simply tell it like it is — about dabs and everything else. O'Shaughnessy's proudly claims responsibility for running Hergenrather's dabs story, but max credit goes to David Bienenstock, the editor of High Times Medical Marijuana magazine, which sponsored the panel on dabbing at their event and invited Dr. Hergenrather to be on it.

Inevitably, Nora Volkow of NIDA or some official from the Drug Czar's office will put out a warning about dabs, and spokespersons for the marijuana industry will dismiss that warning as baloney. It's a shame that our government officials are biased, but a counter-bias will not help us evaluate the safety and efficacy of dabbing. As consumers and as parents, we want the straight facts. The Marijuana Policy Project ought to be publicizing the findings and observations of Hergenrather and his colleagues, not suppressing them. Then, when prohibitionists start spreading scare stories about dabbing, the Communications Manager can tell the world, “Our community is trying to nail that down (pun intended). Nobody has a greater stake in assessing the safety of dabs than cannabis consumers. Cannabis clinicians have been looking at which solvents, if any, are safe. The proper response to the dangers of dabbing is education, not punishment. It's too bad the government doesn't fund the relevant research. Etc. etc.”

PS to the MPP Communications Mgr: You can act on the above suggestion immediately! Four cartons of the paper with “Use of 'Dabs' Gaining Popularity” on page 1 were sent to the Mayflower-Renaissance hotel for distribution by Dr. Hergenrather at the ASA conference. They did not arrive on time and are now sitting in the shipping department. I suggest MPP pick them up and distribute them to your media and political contacts. But wait, there's more! If you act now, you can have this amazing journal — 64 pages of content, no jive — for just the cost of the shipping. That's right, yours with no payment to the publisher if you pass them out to Congresspersons and their aides and others in your broad entourage back there in D.C. Please advise ASAP. I'll take my answer on or off the air.

In the other page-one story a journalist (not an epidemiologist) tries to make sense of the anecdotal evidence that megadose cannabinoids can have anti-cancer effects. For both the seriously ill and the stoniest stoners, it's the Year of the Concentrate.

Fred Gardner can be reached at editor@beyondthc.com.