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Breath Test For Pot Being Developed At WSU
An anonymous reader writes with this news from Tacoma, WA's News Tribune: A team at Washington State University is working to develop a breath test that could quickly determine whether a driver is under the influence of marijuana. Law enforcement officers already use preliminary breath tests in the field to estimate drivers' blood alcohol content. But no similar portable tool exists to test for marijuana impairment ... Stoned drivers have become an increasing concern since Washington voters legalized recreational use of marijuana ... A quarter of blood samples taken from drivers in 2013, the first full year the initiative was in effect, came back positive for pot. ... officers and prosecutors rely on blood tests to determine how much active THC is present in a driver's blood. Those test results aren't immediately available to patrol officers who suspect someone is driving high." Also reported: "Under Washington's legal marijuana law, those who get caught driving with a blood content of at least 5 nanograms of active THC per milliliter are subject to an automatic driver's license suspension of 90 days or more."
As great as any new technology is, I hope this is antiquated by law changes before the technical application machines become practical.
You mean you think it should be legal for people to drive while stoned?
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Even the National Highway Traffic Administration says measured active THC levels can't be correlated with impairment:
They quote research that indicates driving while intoxicated by marijuana increases risk.
Effects on Driving:
The drug manufacturer suggests that patients receiving treatment with Marinol® should be specifically warned not to drive until it is established that they are able to tolerate the drug and perform such tasks safely. Epidemiology data from road traffic arrests and fatalities indicate that after alcohol, marijuana is the most frequently detected psychoactive substance among driving populations. Marijuana has been shown to impair performance on driving simulator tasks and on open and closed driving courses for up to approximately 3 hours. Decreased car handling performance, increased reaction times, impaired time and distance estimation, inability to maintain headway, lateral travel, subjective sleepiness, motor incoordination, and impaired sustained vigilance have all been reported. Some drivers may actually be able to improve performance for brief periods by overcompensating for self-perceived impairment. The greater the demands placed on the driver, however, the more critical the likely impairment. Marijuana may particularly impair monotonous and prolonged driving. Decision times to evaluate situations and determine appropriate responses increase. Mixing alcohol and marijuana may dramatically produce effects greater than either drug on its own.
That seems consistent with emerging research.
Acute cannabis consumption and motor vehicle collision risk: systematic review of observational studies and meta-analysis
Acute cannabis consumption nearly doubles the risk of a collision resulting in serious injury or death; this increase was most evident for studies of high quality, case-control studies, and studies of fatal collisions
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Alcohol makes you more aggressively confident, pot makes you more careful of your driving.
From my pot smoking days you have to be damn careful coming to that conclusion. I have seen someone smoke a joint and just kind of sleep on the rug. I've seen someone smoke a joint and start taking randomly swinging at people (including some far larger than he was which resulted in him going to hospital at the end of the night and having a lengthy chat to police). I personally (apparently) get really quiet and just sit and stare at things when I'm high. I say apparently because I can't remember it usually. And I've seen someone lose his shit entirely claiming he just watched 2 birds in the tree (there were no birds and no trees) commit suicide and then he ran from the room.
Yeah a lot of people aren't majorly affected by a bit of pot, but it hits people in very different ways, and I sure as hell wouldn't get behind the wheel of a car with someone who's just had a joint.
I'll tell y'all the same thing an old HS friend that was a countie mountie said when it came to pot..."Give me a pothead behind the wheel over a drunk any day of the week, the pothead will get paranoid and drive slower whereas the drunk always overestimates his ability and drives too fast. Never had to clean up a 3 car pileup from a pothead, been too many times i had to tell somebody their kid got drunk and wasted himself along with the poor soul they hit".
Working at the shop I've got to talk to many an LEO about this and they all say the same thing, the potheads are less aggressive, drive slower, are frankly just not a threat like the drunks are.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I have only once had to drive while high, to get a dog to the emergency vet.
No matter how hard I TRIED to go faster (I was taking the dog to the emergency vet after all), my body would not let the car go over about 50-55 on the highway and not over 35-40 on the smaller roads. About 10 miles under the speed limit in both cases. It's like my brain and body knew how fast it could handle things.and refused to go any faster.
Whereas the one time I drove while even slightly alcohol impaired (after a dinner and two apparently strong drinks) I immediately ran into a parking lot bollard and dented my truck. I stopped right there and went back inside the restaurant to have a dessert and sober up a bit.
So I can believe what you say.