Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Friday, January 10, 2020

Drug cartels caught carrying new form of marijuana across border

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  WTKR and the scoop




For Mexican drug cartels, marijuana remains big business but they’re turning their attention to an even more potent product now crossing our border.

It looks like motor oil but the black watery tar sitting in five-gallon buckets is nearly pure THC concentrate.


“I started to see the people that would usually backpack marijuana through the desert were now backpacking up crude oil,” said Detective Matthew Shay with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

The concentrate is made using a complex process of stripping the THC off of plants. What’s left is distilled and filtered even further, creating a product that began at about 6% THC into one that carries a THC content of more than 80%.

Shay says it takes about 250 pounds of low-grade commercial marijuana to produce a five-gallon bucket of crude cannabis oil. Once in a concentrated form, profits can skyrocket. Each bucket could produce more than $500,000 in vaping cartridges.

“These are all black-market cartridges — none of these are from a licensed dispensary. These are all ones we’ve recovered in the last year,” said Shay, pointing at packaging easily purchased on the internet.

Once the crude oil from the cartels hits the streets, local dealers begin cutting the product with additives like vitamin E acetate – a compound linked to the nationwide vaping illness.

ABC15 had a couple questions about the product:

ABC15: “Do you suspect vitamin E acetate will be found in any of this stuff?”

Shay: “Oh yeah, sure. Oh yeah, no doubt.”

ABC15: “How much are Americans habits driving how they deliver what drugs to us?”

Shay: “Well that’s the whole business right? If there isn’t a market, there’s no reason to be shipping the stuff up.”

Using vape cartridges to deliver THC is now the most popular way of consuming marijuana.

It’s that demand that fuels the cartel’s new strategy – creating a risk no one should take.

“The black market cannabis cartridges are going to be hazardous, period,” said Shay.

Labs are testing the crude oil to find out exactly what kind of chemicals are in this product.

At this point we don’t know for certain that the cartels’ concentrate is indeed linked to the nationwide outbreak of lung illness that’s sickened thousands across the country.

59 comments:

  1. God, that’s got to be some absolutely terrible quality concentrate. Don’t the cartels realize that all black-market concentrate comes from legal states, and is thus leaps and bounds in quality above their shitty “crude oil”.

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    Replies
    1. @9:17 no dude, the cartels are so dumb and the US narcotics consumers are so smart

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    2. Their selling it in illegal states and jacking up the prices

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    3. 5:23 ha ha ha ha ja ja ja . You did make a obvious point . Only a person that has a THC polluted brain can argue against you . High five !0

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    4. Yeah? Look at the meth they produce. I read a DEA report stating they tested a load coming a cross in Arizona that tested PURER than pharmaceutical. PURER. Cartels have a lot of competition and pressure to have purer quality drugs

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    5. Guys, stick to the monas de guayaba...
      Fack grifa, but if you love your geifa that much,
      then you can stick it up your ass, and save your lungs.

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    6. That's actually an old form of marijuana, legally sold in some jurisdictions for distribution in pot shops. Some news outlets correctly pointed that out but it went directly over everyone else's head.

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    7. HASISH gave the world assassins their name, crazed hashish fans.

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  2. They're a few years late on this trend, maybe they should pay attention more to trends instead of focusing on which corrido they're going to put out next.

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    1. Yeah, they been making this oil illegally in San Diego for years.

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    2. Another thing is 80 percent of all weed sold in California is grown illegally in northern California.

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  3. Maybe test it before you speculate, it’s almost like saying that every white male you see traveling in other countries could be a child molester. If it’s in a raw form then it is getting added here in the United States, don’t attempt to blame. Cocían came from Columbia in a pure raw form and the dealers here cut it because they wanted more profit.

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    1. Good extract or distillate is not black and watery. You don't need to test it to know. I have seen some cartridges that come from the south, it's liquid almost. In you turn the cartridge upside down and it runs down quickly,, it's not good. Good distillate will take time to travel down the cartridge. Hell people are still marking extract with schwag in Mexico, I know, I live here.

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    2. But many white guys from USA go to Mexico to have sex with young mexican girls

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    3. @9:31am, What is there to test? It looks like shit, it looks like motor oil..concentrate looks like shit! Would you drink brown water to tesy it, or would you just assume it's shit??

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    4. One sample doesn't define an entire industry yo. The cartels will figure out how to make high quality oil and do so in 55 gallon drum increments.

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  4. "El Curtis"is the boss of this operation in Arizona.

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  5. East Coast custies buy this stuff.

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  6. “Using vape cartridges to deliver THC is now the most popular way of consuming marijuana.” That’s a statement of opinion presented as a fact.

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    1. It's true. It's been the new thing for a year or two. Especially cause it leaves no odor and rarely smells. Kids vape in school. I used to vape in restaurants, movies... Try lighting a joint, bong or a rig in public. Lol

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  7. If Americans buy it, it will ship

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  8. NOW THEY ARE GONNA BE BLAMED FOR VAPE DEATHS..... WHEN GOVERMENT EARLIER SAID THAT THE FLAVOR ON TABACCO VAPES ARE THE HARMFUL PART OF THM.... NOW HACHIS HAS BEEN AROUND CENTURIES

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  9. If you go to any grow in california there will be atleast one person from mexico working it. They have vast amounts of knowledge dont be suprised.

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    1. Wow. Hmmm. Maybe do the math of Latino in Cali. And that amazing stat of yours won't seem so amazing to you once you actually think about it... Kinda like saying in every prison in the USA there's a black person. They have vast amounts of knowledge

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    2. Thats 100% false. Ive been at many grows with no Mexicans in Cali. Stop spreading lies.

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  10. NEW......LMFAO.... That shits been here....I seen it two years ago lol

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  11. Smart move by whatever cartel is pushing this junk. Easier to move and the market is growing. Eventually the quality should improve and price to consumer will fall. I see a vape kit including battery for under $30 in the future. Now in California depending a combo goes for about $100. US depending on the dosage.

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    1. It will never be under $30 in a shop. I can get them cheaper than that on the street though. Any flavor imaginable.

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  12. Weed oil or RSO(Rick Simpson oil) has been around in Canada since the 70s. I have made oil for years, but never have I seen a good oil black in colour. Oil made from trimmings will be green and from buds(hash/honey oil) will be honey colour, brown colour, even cheery but never ever black!!!

    That black colour tells me that it is mixed with something nasty...

    Why can’t they do a proper product!?

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    Replies
    1. Quality control?? Hahahaha

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    2. Or they are applying to much heat.

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    3. Because they really don't give a fook

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    4. Black oil is typically produced using isopropyl alcohol. Archaic method for sure

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    5. The dark color is because of the way they dry their marijuana. Trichombs become dark when light hits them and as they age. Lighter oil is made from fresh marijuana.

      The color is not an indication of quality.

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  13. Drug orgs should invest more in R&D this product is terrible don't they care about their brand??

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  14. When you extract the oils from cannabis using alcohol or butane you also will extract any oil or alcohol soluble chemmicals. This means any chemicals sprayed on the plant such as synthetic foliar fertilizers or pesticides, as well as insectides spread on the soil (think rat poison) taken up by the roots. I can imagine the concentration of chemicals can add up quickly, though to be fair, there is alot of garbage in weed grown in the US also, unless grown organically.

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  15. This is bad news. Has affected my business as they've banned all flavored vape concentrates. Once again people not doing stuff right, and killing kids.

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  16. It sounds like a waste. You can only ingest so much and you urinate out the rest. Like buying a mega pizza and you can consume so much and the rest not for naught.

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  17. We’ve been making CO2 extract and BHO (butane honey oil) up here for 20years. The colas of our world class plants are harvested packaged and so forth. Any buds weighing less than a gram or are that are unsightly (after drying) are thrown in with trimmings from around the bud and we yield a 20% return of oil from the green that we use to make the oil. Ergo, 20pounds of The small buds from around the bottom of the plant + sugary trimmings equals 1lbs of highly pure (90%) oil which is then turned into shatter. Shatter is honey oil (BHO) placed inside of a vacuum extractor witch draws any ands all moisture out of the oil, leaving dark to light-honey coloured shatter, generally, the lighter the better has it contains fewer impurities. Shatter is named after it’s consistency as it snaps easily, similar to hard toffee in a way, as there is 0 moisture in the finished product. It retails for $60per gram if you have a good connect. Weed just became legal here and pot stores are popping up. It will be interesting to see if they can compete with the black market. any Cannabis business I was involved with with was fully licensed, working with and for LP’s (licensed producers). I love low T high CBD. Give me some outdoor lambs breath from Negril any day....

    Selling weed in Canada is like selling encyclopedias in terms of risk of violence, save for ppl who flaunt their wealth and/or tell people where their growing. There weren’t ANY territorial disputes or violent incidents during 20 years in the game. I choose a different path now, but it’s simply due to market saturation and economics as opposed to a moral dilemma. Pot was a righteous hustle, as consenting adults should be able to enjoy this beautiful gift from god.

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    1. Correction: 20lbs of the green used in the production of BHO yields 4lbs of oil. Not 1 as I stated above.

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    2. I was gonna say, 20:1 is terrible. We usually got between 20% - 30% of weight back depending on the strain.

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  18. They have been doing this up in Canada for 15 years

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  19. The black color is because whatever solvent they used to extract the THC butane, propane, alcohol was left in contact with the cannabis material to long bringing out too many impurities along with the THC. That’s where the black color comes from

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    Replies
    1. The black color is from sun drying and using older material. Oil darkens with age.

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  20. More will cross the border the American hippies and crackheads are waiting for it. Non stop cycle.

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    1. The “crackheads” and “hippies”, aka “regular users” don’t buy black tar garbage weed. Hell, I know guys who are big users who only use pot from certain growers or people who can extract it correctly. Pot is like wine or craft beer. This garbage will be used to make cheap vape pens, and that will put a black eye on the US pot industry when damn near every negative in the industry is a result of Mexico. Hell, everything Mexico touches is shit. Want to ruin something? Put a Mexican in charge. In a few weeks they will give their cousins jobs and figure out how to skim money, cut corners and give it a bad name. And like everything else related, cartels will add fentanyl to it and kids will OD and hey won’t care one bit. Notice how Canada is a good neighbor, but Mexico is a parasite. Build that wall already.

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    2. Hahaha like wine or craft beer .straight up hipster status

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  21. THC concentrates are old news in CA...its been around for at least 5 years..The homies Chicanos who run the state introduced the MX cartels to it not the other way around...Remember nobody not the blacks, whites, or paisanos call shots out here it's the LA boys the Mafia's turf.

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    1. You just don't know. 5 years here since it was introduced and you think it's new? Ain't no homie Chicano going to dictate to a mafioso period, mess with the money and your own brother will be told to pull your card. Jajaja I see you're practicing to become a comedian.

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  22. vapes have been getting counterfeited for a while now, a couple people i know were selling some & i purchased, later came across online that these companies were changing packaging on them to fight counterfeits. other vapes just have instagram pages & nothing more, told people stop smoking those vapes from the streets cause you don't know what's in them.

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    1. Took them long enough to find out now lets blame the mexicans.

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  23. Mexico evolves. Now, instead of schwag shit weed in a brick full of seeds and sticks, they managed to distill that crap into a bucket. $500k per 5 gallons? Nope. Cali has a huge surplus of decent weed that isn’t certified or lab tested, but grown with those same safeguards and procedures. You can get a mason jars of clean honey grown from whatever strain you want for a decent price. This will be sold to teenagers in Arkansas.

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    1. Some guys from Cali showed them the process lol

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  24. Man ain't nothing but pendejos who comment to comment on here and yet my shit never gets posted. That crude oil gets distilled pendejos if y'all know anything about concentrates you keyboard warriors would have better knowledge. Alot of the designer carts are made with crude oil that's filtered several ways then ran through a short path distiller that cleans out the concentrate of all impurities. I swear y'all need to get out of your parents homes and devices...

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    1. So, if you dont distill? You get more profits?!

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  25. I roll joints don't care for the vaping

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    Replies
    1. Does this make this form of THC a Controlled Substace?

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    2. I don't know ask the experts there's a bunch of them posting on this page.

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