A California Company Believes It Has Invented a Viable Marijuana Breathalyzer

Megalith

Megalith

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Scientific device company Hound Labs is currently testing what may be the final version of its so-called marijuana breathalyzer. As you could presume from its name, the device is supposed to help police and employers determine if someone is under the influence of weed.

The Golden State will begin recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1. For law enforcement officials, there are understandable worries about what this will mean in terms of patrolling roads. Without a standardized test for marijuana DUI, officers will be handcuffed on what they can do, no matter what they might suspect. Hound Labs believes the answer is in the breath.
 
Honestly, if it works then great. I do think part of the legalization issue is "how do we test to make sure people aren't too impaired to drive?" The "Whoa Man" pot smoker types need to take a step back and realize that "yes" there is a "too high to drive" limit. While the market expands people are finding new ways to get even higher. I saw a video of a laser "dab" rig today... WTF is this shit.
 
Wait, can't you tell when someone has been smoking weed?
 
Bullshit. There is NO reliable science to correlate a specific level of THC in your bloodstream to intoxication! They keep TRYING to make tests to get people arrested, but it will NOT hold up in court!
 
DrLobotomy said:
Fuck these guys and their invention.

It should not be a crime to be driving while high.

Make sure it works for prescription medication also while you are at it. /s
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Fuck you.

Prescription medication = controlled dose, controlled intake, controlled everything. Medical follow-ups. If you can't drive, your doctor will make sure you will not.

Weed, booze and the likes of it = take far more than you should, drive, do stupid things, and... that's it?
 
jnemesh said:
Bullshit. There is NO reliable science to correlate a specific level of THC in your bloodstream to intoxication! They keep TRYING to make tests to get people arrested, but it will NOT hold up in court!
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Make control groups, investigate, science - all that jazz - and find a general intoxicant level provably measurable.

I do agree that in general, THC does not impair physical body function.

It does, however, induce 'mindchange', and that in and of itself constitutes a detour from sobriety.
 
SomeoneElse said:
Ok, make sense....didn't realize DUI was actually justifiable for marijuana use when driving.
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considering being high has been clearly proven to alter your reaction time and other senses, yes, DUI is a problem for weed.

Now, I'm going to be curious to see how they set it up, but I agree there needs to be a standard for it.
 
DrLobotomy said:
Fuck these guys and their invention.

It should not be a crime to be driving while high.

Make sure it works for prescription medication also while you are at it. /s
Click to expand...

If you are high, you are not sober.

I don't give a fuck what you do on your own time, on your own property, behind your own doors - to your own body.

Step out in a vehicle and wanna drive high?

Yeah, your business becomes my business really. fucking. fast.
 
DrLobotomy said:
Fuck these guys and their invention.

It should not be a crime to be driving while high.

Make sure it works for prescription medication also while you are at it. /s
Click to expand...

I don't care if you're high on weed, prescription meds, or even superglue. Just like alcohol, if you're driving under the influence you're breaking the law. Don't like it? Sell your car for more weed and start paying for Uber because no one else wants to share the road with someone who isn't sober.
 
THC fucks me up and impairs me far more than alcohol. It just does not agree with my body chemistry at all. Parts of my body start moving involuntarily, like my right arm will just start rising for no reason along with various twitches. I have minor hallucinations on top of that. I also puke after about a half a joint.

So yeah, you don't want me behind the wheel of a car after toking. I suspect I'm not the only who is adversely affected by relatively small amounts of THC. As such, test for it, yes. Sorry if that's a downer man.
 
This a big step forward in testing for "impairment" over the urine, blood, hair tests for the metabolites and not for the presence of THC in the blood stream.
 
cdr_74_premium said:
Do you really want to convince us that having a prescription for a set amount of whatever substance, with medical overseeing, is the exact same thing as using whatever you want however you want, even considering the first scenario isn't 100% fail proof?
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Na I was just suggesting that the doctors won't always tell you when something can fuck you up while driving. Its not 100 pecent failsafe.
 
Ultima99 said:
So much fail. You want alcoholics and potheads to indiscriminately drive around and risk the lives of others?

Are you just trolling or are you really that wrong in the head?
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At the cost of free will? Fuck yes.
 
People shouldn't be driving under the influence of anything. Even prescription pain medications and the like state on the bottle NOT to operate machinery while taking said medication. The same thing should go for marijuana.
 
jnemesh said:
Bullshit. There is NO reliable science to correlate a specific level of THC in your bloodstream to intoxication! They keep TRYING to make tests to get people arrested, but it will NOT hold up in court!
Click to expand...

Yeah...considering how THC works in the body, I'm skeptical that there is a reliable method to test THC levels through breath alone.

Part of me thinks this is just a company that's developing a barely working product, that possibly can only detect levels of smoke (read: not edibles) within a small time frame after inhalation, to scam the state into bulk buying their stuff.
 
There should be a stupid test. Test how stupid the stoned driver looks after he is pulled over. That's how you can tell if someone is a pothead. They just look stupid.
 
Smashing Young Man said:
THC fucks me up and impairs me far more than alcohol. It just does not agree with my body chemistry at all. Parts of my body start moving involuntarily, like my right arm will just start rising for no reason along with various twitches. I have minor hallucinations on top of that. I also puke after about a half a joint.

So yeah, you don't want me behind the wheel of a car after toking. I suspect I'm not the only who is adversely affected by relatively small amounts of THC. As such, test for it, yes. Sorry if that's a downer man.
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Um, you should never try and smoke half a joint, son. This ain't your grandpa's weed from 'Nam. Unless you're a regular smoker, one decent puff is more than enough to get most people uncomfortably high AF.

I actually drive better stoned, just like I'm better at video games on it. But I don't think anyone has a right to drive intoxicated on anything. But I also don't think it is a matter of simple breath concentrations. I'm all for cognitive tests.

When I got my DUI I passed every cognitive test the cop threw at me. Twice. Even that backwards alphabet shit. I don't even know how I did that. He was pissed because I was definitely above the legal limit.

I'm not defending myself, I deserved the conviction and the penalties. But everyone is different and every scientific study shows that you can't draw a solid line to determine what's impaired and what isn't.
 
I hope it works. I am getting tired of people complaining it isn't legal, then bitching about drunk drivers on the road. From everything I have seen from the potheads around here, driving high as fuck is the same as driving when you have not slept in about 80 hours. You drive slow as shit, mostly operating on muscle memory/autopilot, and your response time is complete garbage.
 
I have driven more than 1 million miles on cars and harleys,stoned, always, never had an accident, over 29 years pot smoking, . Never any other drug aside, I am a strict pot smoker.I wouldnt say long term pot smokers drive lesser, it really depnds on the person who drives. What complicates the matter for us smokers in my country is that the test they take looks back for months, THC active and inactive . The police will only charge you for any if so small value on the active scale, which is ok with me, I can let it be to drive anmd smoke same time, which I always loved. Kididng aside, the bad part that ruins your life comes from our Local Transport Office, they withdraw your license and send you to hell, which means no less than a couple grand for classes, a test thereafter that virtually nobody passes on 1st attempt, another half year, another test, etc... like 3-10k€ later you may have your licens eback, 2-3 years later as well. They dont charge you for driving with the active part, they crucify you for the passive left overs from months back and thus say, you MAY not be able to differentiate between driving and consuming, we need to make a physical physiological exam with you before we can let you drive again. This is a bloddy money machine for the officials and the guys who give the classes. My pal has it taken away 3 times, last time 8k€, he got 2 kids, a house, a wife, a mortgage to pay, doing his master now in school to move forward in the job, but they wont let him smoke and drive a car 1 week later, they still take your license, fine you to times again, police + local gov, and you walk ! Many of my friends lost work, or wife and kids, or both, mainly due to this over the last 10 years. This is a shame. Make it so that you can have both, with responsibility for any involved.

I hope for California that they come up with a "smoke but then don't drive for e,g, 4 hours" law or such, that is the typical time it needs for active substances in your breath to be gone, you are considered "not influenced" anymore.
If they role out the german way of letting half of the nation taking the public transport again, then this will be bad.

Actually, they started to realize from above that the intended effect led to unemployment, divorce rate climb, countryside-->city ( public transport ) shift etc. instead, misused by the local counties to make money in dire times. That it will produce even lesser living standards is out of scope for them, they smoke too little to see the wider scope of what disaster they orchestrate.

They got me 2 years ago, ever since I walk and give a shit about it. I wont pay ANY of those classes, I rather sit at home, click my mouse, do RDP and VPN, take the bus if needed or look for other possibilities but I am NOT playing it their way and fuel the dragon. You know, I didnt even do anything wrong, I was at a red light, waiting, when they pulled upo behind me, switched their damn lights on and said, "Have you taken drugs ?"...at 3pm in the middle of a big city. Yeah, I smoked, HOURS before at home before we left for the day. I knew what would come, I had friends who went through it before that as said above. Sad, since I have a bunch of kids and sometimes I drive with people that make me wanna jump right out of the window as they cant drive properly, that is the reality.

I will wait for the law to change and then reclaim my licence, if need to be by court. A few have done it alrteady and the judges are actually pro logalization and less dramatic Traffic & drug laws. Its time for a global change in full scale, now that the wheel gained momentum.

Gaawd, how I love smoking a fatty on the Autobahn, relaxing, listening to a good tune and drive home. Fuck that law, it killed half the joy in my life.

edit*: and yeah, stand up for what you are, nothing ever changes if you play their game by their rules and keep silent.

Rebel Yell
 
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DrLobotomy said:
I'm a fuckton more dangerous on the highway sober than I am high.

That's a fact.
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Same with me bro, I would never attempt to ride a bike without having smoked some pot. It saved my life and possibly that of others as well. The few times I did not smoke but chased my Springer around, oh boy, I took my brothers Springer with Edelbrock heads, screamed it up to god knows what rpm, 2nd gear, speed wheelie again and zooom.

I have never done such stupid stuff sober, ahem, with pot I mean.

Yeah, the truth is hard to take. It's even harder to take if you know that people who have it on perscription are allowed to drive, they by definition dont seem to be a problem...ahhh...yeah...they got a tiny wheel in the big clockwork, lettem drive, catch the others, they are by definitions BAD ones, tho they may have smoked the same joint. This really kills any contra-arguement. As it only seems to count if you are "not welcome" by definition, not by facts.
 
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