Two Barrels of Weed Spills After Car Crash on California’s I-10, Driver Runs Away

The driver of a pickup truck that spilled two large barrels of cannabis botanicals is still at large after fleeing the scene of a crash on Thursday. California Highway Patrol says the driver of the Chevy truck collided with a tractor-trailer, lost control and spun into a concrete center barrier on Interstate 10 in Banning. The collision sent debris flying across traffic lanes, including two large barrels of weed. With his Chevy disabled and the weed scattered across several lanes of high-speed traffic, the driver took off on foot. CHP is still on the lookout for the driver.

Crash Investigators Say Spilled Weed Not Worth Collecting

Banning, California, is a city in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles. Riverside County is one of the more cannabis industry-friendly seats in Southern California. City officials have passed ordinances to permit weed festivals and smoking lounges, though their unique licensing approach has stirred some controversy.

Nestled in the San Gorgonio Pass, tons of weed travels through Banning down I-10. But licensed producers and distributors probably aren’t transporting their product loosely in barrels in the back of Chevy’s. At this time, CHP doesn’t know much about the circumstances that led to the crash and the spilled weed. It could have been the bad weather or an impaired driver. Investigators just don’t have much evidence to go on.

Last Thursday was rainy in Banning, and the highways were slick with water and oily runoff. By the time CHP officers arrived at the scene of the crash, the spilled weed had all but dissolved in the pounding rain. There was simply no point in collecting any of it. So CHP just let the rain and traffic wash the weed away.

Drivers Didn’t Make Off with Any Spilled Weed

Pulling over and getting out of your car on a busy highway isn’t an advisable move. But for some cannabis consumers, the chance to swoop up some free bud might have been hard to resist. “Is this what ‘it comes back around’ means? I’ve been smoking up my friends for years; is this the universe saying thanks?” The thought might have crossed the minds of a few lucky San Jose drivers a few years back when another weed-packed pickup flipped and dumped its stash at a busy intersection. Same deal, the driver took off, and before police arrived, bystanders made off with as much weed as they were willing to carry.

But that was a typical Southern California day: sunny and dry. Thursday’s spill in Banning was rain-soaked almost immediately. And the weed wasn’t even wrapped in plastic, just loose in the barrels. So even if you knew what you had just witnessed, it wouldn’t be worth the expert-level frogger moves you’d have to make to pick any up. We don’t even know if it was good quality tree. But at least its energy has returned to earth—and a few tire treads.