Sudbury

Shatter drug made of marijuana extract looks like 'toffee'

Sudbury police say they've recently seized a quantity of a drug called shatter — a product produced by extracting resins from marijuana.

Potent pot extract on OPP radar for months, now found in Sudbury

A man holds a sheet of THC concentrate known as "shatter," in Denver, Colorado. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)

Sudbury police say they've recently seized a quantity of a drug called shatter — a potent pot extract that gives users a powerful high.

The drug is a concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC, which is the ingredient in marijuana that produces a high. 

When it showed up in Stratford, Ont., a police officer told CBC news that shatter can contain 70 to 80 per cent THC, which is well above the five-to-eight per cent of a typical marijuana joint.

A healthcare worker with Réseau Access Network in Sudbury said she's been researching the effect of the drug in case it becomes an issue in the city.

Kaela Pelland said the drug is produced in smooth, clear sheets that look like "toffee."

"You can grab it and hold it and it's light. Then you would, say, smash it and it would shatter and that's where the name comes from," she said. 

People break up sheets of the drug and smoke the shards, and can become dependent on it, Pelland said.