What is Cannabis Crude Oil (CCO)?

Cartels Sneak Cannabis Crude Oil Across the Border

cannabis crude oil cco rso

If there is one thing you have to say about the Cartel is that they are quite adept at adapting. From creating Narco Subs to a Medieval “Fuck-the-wall” Trebuchet for launching drug parcels, to weaponized drones – the cartels are like master chameleons.

For the longest time, one of the Cartel’s ‘steady money makers’ – Cannabis – saw a decrease in demand because local weed in the US has higher consumer appeal than Cartel “brick weed”. Over the years, the cartels tried to sneak into the US and grow on public land – which they manage to do quite well.

However, with more States legalizing, the fight to dominate the weed market is a lost cause…or is it?

You see - when the cartel sees a door close, they will dig a fucking tunnel!

With the apparent depreciation of their once, “steady revenue stream”, US legalization efforts undermined their business and reduced the wholesale price per kilo by up to 90% in some cases. Some farmers switched to poppies because – Americans ‘dem them some Smack!

However, for the cartels, this limits their revenue streams quite a lot and even though the price of cannabis depreciated, cartels work in volumes. It’s actually quite sad to see such a high quantity of shitty weed produced each year – and by simply removing the males – cartels could increase the yield and potency of their weed significantly.

Nonetheless, what can a cartel do with a surplus of weed that nobody wants to buy? Well – turn it into OIL!

Cartels caught smuggling “Crude Cannabis Oil”

Perhaps you haven’t heard of the term “Crude Cannabis Oil [CCO]”. Essentially, it’s the first crude extract of the cannabinoids.

RSO or Rick Simpson Oil classifies as a “Crude Oil Extract”. Typically, “CCO” is dark, sticky and black. However, while it might not be of high “consumer appeal” – crude oil is key in processing cannabis products.

It’s also fairly easy to make crude cannabis oil. If you were to follow the Rick Simpson method, all you’d need is some high-proof alcohol and a shit-ton of weed.

Turns out that for the Cartels it’s quite easy to get a bunch of booze and a bunch of weed. With all of these resources readily available, they seized the opportunity and now are starting to ship “barrels of crude oil” across the border.

According to a report on Kush.com “Currently raw CBD Crude prices for a contract of 500 – 1000 kilos are hovering between $2,850 / $3,500 per kilo of CBD content for crude material that is 45%+.” - Source

That’s for CBD Crude Oil. The Crude Oil that the cartels are shipping is full-spectrum and most probable some variant of RSO. Some of the law enforcement agents dealing with these types of smuggling operations estimate that one barrel of CCO potentially can generate $500,000 worth of “vape cartridges”.

Obviously, we know that law enforcement likes to exaggerate by “gajillions” – but we can estimate that each barrel will at least generate a few hundred thousand dollars.

According to law enforcement, “The barrels will definitely have vitamin E acetate”, which is one of the chemicals linked in the vaping epidemic of 2019 – however, this is not confirmed.

As mentioned, in all likeliness – the Crude Oil shipped from Mexico is closer to RSO or some sort of variant of RSO. The Acetate would be introduced only in the United States where Crude Oil would be packaged for retail.

What does this mean for everyone?

For starters – Cartel Oil will most definitely not be tested or go through any of the regular channels. This means, that the odds of contaminants being present within the oil are far higher than “regulated oil”. Purity, consistency and whether or not they utilized “proper distillation techniques” are all up for debate.

Despite all of this – this oil will end up on the streets and will be sold to consumers at a “lower price” than the legal weed. How many people will end up buying these “cheaper variations” of oil that “still gets them high”? How many teens will do it?

What this means is that law enforcement is implied ill-equipped to deal with drug cartels. No matter the law we create, the cartels will either build something to overcome it or adapt their strategies and change their approach entirely.

If you truly want to make the world a better place – you’d vote for legalizing all drugs and creating a new regulated system where drug use is permitted because we’re adults now and can make these types of decisions for ourselves.

Also – it’s the only way you’ll ever be able to undermine the cartel – by removing the black market entirely and legalizing all drugs. Give the harsh drugs like heroin and meth for free in specially designated places and let “lesser drugs” like psilocybin, cannabis, mescaline, LSD, MDMA and so forth be available for anyone age 25 and older.

When have we ever tried that throughout modern history? Don’t knock it before you try it!