Human Toll of Honey Oil Drug Lab Explosions Highlighted In Emotional New RivCo DA Campaign

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — District Attorney Mike Hestrin Tuesday unveiled three public service announcement videos warning Riverside County residents and others about the perils of making the marijuana derivative honey oil with butane gas, using the story of a couple who suffered life-altering injuries in a butane explosion.

"People need to understand that the butane honey oil extraction process takes lives — it hurts people forever," Hestrin said. "The reason we have produced these videos and why we need the public to see them is because of the importance of getting the word out about the dangers of these substances and the extraction process."

The videos feature Alex Gonzales and his girlfriend Selina Cervantes, both of whom were severely burned in a butane honey oil -- BHO -- lab blaze at a Palm Springs motel in February 2015. Cervantes suffered second- and third- degree burns to 97 percent of her body and was permanently disfigured.

Gonzales ultimately pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from the use of controlled substances and the resulting fire, and as part of his plea deal, agreed to speak publicly about the potential devastating consequences of manufacturing honey oil with butane.

The videos comprise a three-part series, altogether running about nine minutes, in which Gonzales and Cervantes recall the events leading up to the explosion, its immediate impact and the aftermath.

"My skin was coming off with the clothing," Cervantes says in one video. "It was mostly third-degree burns. I was really bad.

The young mother was not expected to live but managed to survive after numerous operations and treatments.

"I have dreams almost every night of just people burning that I don't even know and have never even seen before," Gonzales says in the final video. "Then when you wake up, you can almost taste the butane, every time. It has a distinctive taste when it explodes. And that mixture I can taste."

According to Gonzales, he was in the motel bathroom, lighting one can of butane gas after another to extract liquid from the marijuana. He said he had no explanation for the detonation that ignited the fire but guessed that it could have been something as simple as sliding his shoe across the floor and creating a heat source.

BHO labs have sprung up in both remote and heavily populated areas of the county. In the past few years, butane honey oil fires have erupted in Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Norco and Riverside.

"We want to put an end to the manufacture of butane honey oil," Hestrin said.

D.A.'s office staff used $9,700 in state Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds to produce the broadcast-quality videos, which are available on YouTube and can be shown anywhere. They're at the following links:

"The videos are an effort to educate people about the extreme danger and prevent BHO lab explosions that can severely injure, maim, or even kill those doing the extraction," according to a D.A.'s office statement.

Drug lab operators use butane stoves to extract tincture from cannabis plants. The product, often referred to as "wax" or hash, can be mixed with anything and bottled.

A pound of wax can fetch more than $30,000, according to law enforcement estimates.

— By City News Service / Images via YouTube