At least five explosions at marijuana extraction “labs” have been reported in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in 2016, causing injuries as serious as third-degree burns.

The labs have operated illegally — and often times dangerously — in homes, garages and other facilities throughout the state as the demand for the strong marijuana byproduct known as wax or honey oil has risen. In an effort to deter people from running the labs under dangerous conditions, and to provide a framework for legitimate marijuana manufacturers, a law was recently signed that allows the extraction process under certain conditions.

“It kind of takes that industry out of people’s garages,” said Coachella City Manager David Garcia, whose office helped draft the bill. “It continues to make (unlicensed extraction) illegal but also (allows) a safe, licensed process to be in place.”

AB 2679, which will go into effect in 2018, spells out strict protocols for operating an extraction lab and says patients, pot identification cardholders, caregivers, collectives and cooperatives will not face state criminal sanctions if they follow the new rules.

The regulations include having a licensed engineer certify the system, ensuring the system doesn’t allow highly flammable solvents to escape, and following local ordinances.

Since ordinances in most of the Inland Empire that outlaw the sale of medical marijuana also outlaw the manufacturing of medical marijuana, licensed labs would be permitted only in Cathedral City, Coachella and Adelanto. Operating a lab without obtaining a license and following the new regulations would result in the same fines and punishments that were in place before the law was passed.

Garcia said Coachella officials endorsed the bill after issuing a permit to Irvine-based cannabis branding firm Cultivation Technologies Inc. to build a 6-acre, $24 million “cannabis industrial complex” in the city. In addition to cultivation and testing facilities, the complex will feature a 9,000-square-foot manufacturing facility where wax will be made, according to the company’s website.

The facility’s proposed closed-loop, food-grade extraction system would fall in line with the new law’s regulations, Garcia said.

“It establishes a safe, regulated environment for the manufacturing of cannabis-related products,” Garcia said.

The new law does a few other things, including authorizing a University of California research program to study marijuana’s effects on motor skills. Also, agencies that issue medical marijuana-related licenses will have to include additional information on denials and complaints in their annual reports.

Why wax?

John “Blue” Whinnery, owner of the Orange County-based medical marijuana delivery service Pat’s Legacy, said wax, also known as honey oil, hash oil, shatter and dab, has become more and more popular among his customers over the past five years.

“It’s kind of like concentrated orange juice,” Whinnery said. “It’s at its strongest form.”

For medical marijuana patients with chronic pain, “hitting a dab” can provide instant relief, he said.

“It’s like taking a shot of Motrin,” he said.

Labs often use solvents to extract the psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, from dry marijuana. The process produces a gooey residue that contains a highly concentrated dose of THC and is widely popular at medical marijuana dispensaries.

Dangers of extraction

Though extraction labs are illegal in most of the Inland area, firefighters deal with explosions semi-regularly. One person was killed and two were critically wounded in an explosion in November 2014 in the San Bernardino-area community of Muscoy.

Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department Capt. Scott Slumpff, who works in the hazardous materials division, said most of the honey oil lab explosions he has responded to have utilized butane as a solvent to strip marijuana buds of their THC.

Butane that escapes from the system in liquid or gas form can be ignited by a stove’s pilot light, a water heater or even a light bulb, Slumpff said.

Many explosions occur as a result of handling chemicals in an unsafe, non-lab environment such as a house, Slumpff said.

The new law requires systems that use solvents to be closed-loop systems so fumes don’t escape during the process.

Still a problem

Though the new law is aimed at making wax manufacturers operate more safely, Capt. Greg White, an arson investigator with the Riverside Fire Department, thinks illegal labs may still pose a problem for law enforcement.

“I still think there will be the want to manufacture the product illegally,” White said. “The licensing and all the requirements are good, though.”

Slumpff urges people who plan on extracting wax to do so in a controlled environment.

“We don’t condone this,” Slumpff said. “We just hope that people who do these things take precautions and do it safely.”

Extraction rules

AB 2679 establishes rules to manufacture medical marijuana products commonly known as wax or honey oil. Collectives and cooperatives must adhere to local ordinances.

Their manufacturing systems may be solventless, or may use nonflammable, nontoxic solvents. Systems that use other solvents must meet the following requirements:

•Use a closed-loop system that will prevent off-gassing.

•Use solvents that are recognized as safe pursuant to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

•Have a licensed engineer certify that the system was commercially manufactured, is safe for its intended use and was built to codes of recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices.

•Have a certification document that includes the unit’s serial number and is signed by a professional engineer.

•Receive and maintain approval from local fire officials for the closed-loop system, other equipment, the extraction operation and the facility.

•Adhere to state and national fire protection standards.