Sure this has already been discussed but what do you think caused this to go so badly wrong?

http://laist.com/2014/06...mes_send_the_suspect.php

This article refers to a recent incident which already has several threads devoted to it on the forum.

The fumes referred to in this article are from the solvent he was using, not lye. Sodium hydroxide has a boiling point of 1388°C (2,530°F). I am not chemistry expert, but from my understanding this means that it would require a considerable amount of heat (and therefore effort) to fill a room with sodium hydroxide fumes. That is to say if it is even possible in the first place.

But yes, I think you are right in a way. The person in the article did not have a safe place to perform an extraction, and it would seem that he was completely oblivious to proper handling procedure for the hazardous chemicals he was using. Those are two damn good reasons to not perform an extraction, and therefore not use lye.

Apologies for the repost but definitely bears repeating -- if you don't know what you're doing or are in a relatively crowded area it's rather rude and daft to say the least to gas your neighbours.

Maybe start with a non-toxic tek like Q21Q21 and D-Limonene? Mr and Mrs Jones next door are much less likely to call the boys in blue over the smell of oranges!

Crikey, it's just embarrassing someone could mess up this badly and attract the undue attention of police. Makes me cringe and mad as hell at the same time

definitely not the lye.

this particular article seems to be written intentionally vague to give it that sensationalist flair (hence the Breaking Bad scene photo) without extraneous misinformation.

seems like the spice itself (or more likely, the mushrooms) caused the man to go loopy, and alert neighbors.
the police probably fell "ill" because they either a) are afraid of chemicals, and like you implied, would have been ok with the scent of oranges, or b) were just lazy and needed an excuse to take some time off.

My initial thought was lye overheating breaking, causing a calamity chain reaction with naphtha all over the place and or xylene etc ... big chemical mess. Idiot.