Colorado's Attorney General on Tuesday said the state's landmark marijuana legalization law does not allow people to extract the drug's potent hash oil from plants in their home.
Attorney General John Suthers said Amendment 64, which was passed by voters in 2012 and legalized recreational marijuana for adults, "expressly prohibits" people from personally producing butane hash oil due in part to the threat it poses to the public.
"To decriminalize dangerous and unreasonable behavior in which people are getting hurt and houses are blowing up, defies the intent of the voters," Suthers said in a statement.
"Colorado is experiencing a real public safety issue as a result of unsafe and unlicensed manufacturing and production," he added.
Suthers earlier this month filed a brief in a Mesa County criminal case against Eugene Christenson, who allegedly caused an explosion at his home while attempting to produce the oil.
The Denver Post said dozens of explosions have been sparked at homes across the state this year due to amateur attempts at hash oil extraction.
In May, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed legislation regulating the amount of concentrated marijuana that can be sold to an individual.
The bill closed a legal gap that treated one ounce of leafy pot the same as an equivalent amount of more powerful forms, like hash oil.
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