Canadian Police Apologized After Freaking Out Over 'Shatter,' a.k.a. Concentrated Weed

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Vancouver police had to do some embarrassing backpedalling Monday following a social media freakout over the supposedly deadly dangers of "shatter."

Perhaps not realizing shatter (a.k.a. wax or dabs), is just a concentrated form of weed, the cops sent out a bunch of tweets over the weekend warning people about the drug.

"Parents!!!! Please educate your children on the dangers of 'Shatter'. We cannot lose any more young people to senseless overdoses" read a tweet from the force's gang unit referring to an absolutely bogus scenario that has never happened. Another tweet containing a photo of shatter claimed the drug "can cause temporary psychosis. Looks like toffee. This was seized in a traffic stop tonight. BEWARE."

Aside from the toffee comparison, there's no truth to any of these claims, which the police themselves admitted on Twitter Monday:

While well-intentioned, our tweets about — VPDGangUnit (@VPDGangUnit)November 23, 2015

Perry Kendall, a British Columbia health officer, told Global News that shatter "could make you very stoned" but hasn't been linked to any fatal overdoses. Which makes sense, considering that no one has ever died from smoking too much weed alone.

Vancouver's finest aren't alone in their ignorance. Illinois police also recently cautioned the public about "hallucinations and other types of psychosis" linked to shatter use.

But weed advocates say the only real danger associated with shatter comes from production—explosions have taken place at home labs.

"If you do it in industrial setting, you can do it perfectly safely. It's about moving it from the black market to the regulated white market to do it," Colorado dispensary owner Kevin Fisher told VICE News.

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