DU and the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) will be stepping up efforts in confiscating butane and propane burners currently being found in residence halls.
According to Manager of Emergency Preparedness Mark Wilson, burners have appeared more often in residence halls since the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state of Colorado under Amendment 64.
“What it comes down to with legalized marijuana and hash oil in particular, we’ve been finding propane cylinders and butane burners of all different sizes,” said Wilson. “In most cases, they have an attached torch that they can use with the actual gas. What happens is residents forcing butane under pressure through marijuana leaves, the butane acting as a solvent to extract the oils from the leaves. You then need to evaporate the butane, and you can do that through time or you can use a heat source to evaporate a flammable gas, which we can see how that’s going to go.”
The burners are being used to create hash oil, a process which has resulted in explosions in homes and apartments throughout Colorado. According to an article CBS News, the state’s only adult burn center has treated 10 people with burns related to hash oil explosions since January compared to 11 total in 2013.
Wilson further noted that past instances of burners in residence halls used for marijuana consumption have been filed with the OSC as “drug violations” under the DU Honor Code under Section II.4. With an increase of burners being found in residence halls, penalties for burner possession are now classified under Section II.5, the endangerment clause. Penalties will vary from case to case in OSC reviews.
In addition to penalties handed down by DU, Wilson elaborated further that criminal charges can be dealt to individuals who cause explosions when attempting to produce hash oil using butane or propane.
“The Denver Fire Department (DFD) takes an issue with this,” said Wilson, “Our residence halls and for the most part our Greek houses are classified as Group R-2 occupancies [in the DFD fire code], which are essentially dormitories and Greek houses. It is very explicit in the fire code that flammable gases are not to be used or stored in Group R-2 occupancies.”
Wilson further stated that DFD will not hesitate to get involved in investigating burner incidents on campus if needed.
“The fire department has told me that they will come to campus and they will cite people for industrial processes in a residential zone for doing that,” said Wilson. “That charge carries with it a thousand dollar fine, 30 days in jail, or both.”
Wilson concluded by stating that DU and the DFD will continue to monitor and handle incidents of burners in residence halls very carefully, and they will deal with each incident accordingly.
