Given cannabis has a medicinal use for many how is fair to target it specifically and not also hold other medications that cause fatigue & drowsiness to the same standard?
Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
101–110 of 421 posts
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about they test for actual impairment before legally declaring you impaired?
This would actually be an easy technical solution, if laws could be passed to allow it. Basically a driving simulator with a handful of reasonable surprises. If you avoid them you’re declared not impaired.
Any reasonable device of this kind would fail a nonzero perccentage of sober drivers and pass a nonzero percentage of intoxicated drivers. And not just because of noise -- some people drive worse sober than others do high. So don't hold your breath waiting for laws to allow it.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#103Is someone driving high dangerous?
Driving impaired in any way shape or form is dangerous. https://www.dailycamera.com/2016/06/09/affidavit-teen-driver...
As is driving unimpaired.
https://www.stripes.com/us-army-soldier-three-others-serious...
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Driving under the influence should be detected by professional law enforcement observation. This can be easily backed up with video footage. Then if suspected after being pulled over, tested clinically. This is not that difficult. Even if a certain level of any substance is detected and measured, level of impairment is not.
> Driving under the influence should be detected by professional law enforcement observation. It is. I've been pulled over a few times in my life. Never had a breathalyzer test done, because they assumed (correctly) that I hadn't been drinking. But human observation is far from perfect. And even harder to defend in court. > Then if suspected after being pulled over, tested clinically. This is not that difficult. What…
>Yes, you might feel perfectly fine, but I don't want your subjective opinion of how well you think you can drive under the influence of marijuana to be the determining factor in whether we let you drive after smoking pot or not.
Couldn't you approach the same problem by testing the capabilities of the driver rather than testing the amount of a substance in their system (after all there are countless substances than can impair a driver, not just alcohol and marijuana)? Would an improved field sobriety test be a more appropriate product than an improved breathalyzer?
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#105> Whereas a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% (the legal limit in most states) might result in a concentration of 208 ppm of ethanol in the breath, a similarly impairing dose of cannabis results in 0.00001 ppm of the drug in breath. [emphasis added] From personal experience, it seems to me that cannabis and alcohol have radically different effects. How can you define a "similarly impairing dose" when they are so u…
Perhaps by comparing accident statistics for similarities in the two groups and then comparing the doses of each that lead to those similar accident outcomes?
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#106Sounds like it’s well-intentioned, but I’m afraid that given the incentives of all parties involved here, and the complexity of the technology, there will be a lot of false positives. It’s obvious that the police will want a device that produces more convictions, no point in disputing that. I’m wondering if you can elaborate on what incentives your company has to produce accurate devices, against your customer’s unst…
> It’s obvious that the police will want a device that produces more convictions, no point in disputing that. Is that obvious? If this were as overwhelming an incentive as you say, we wouldn't have accurate breathalyzers for alcohol. But we do, and it's simple to see why. 1) Cops aren't the only customers; medical establishments, individuals, and workplaces also have a legitimate interest in measuring impairment. 2)…
Do we have accurate breathalyzers for alcohol? AFAIK, the manufacturers aggressively resist requirements to publish their source code or calibrations for testing. Also, AIUI, the devices require recalibration for accuracy, and it's not clear that police stations perform such maintenance.
No idea how rampant this is, every system will have flaws. But I question whether we can use the alcohol breathalyzer example without acknowledging there are significant unanswered questions w/r/t accuracy.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#107I bought an alcohol one via a crowdnfunding campaign that plugged into your iPhone via this mythical ancient technology called 'an audio jack' years ago called Breathometer. It was neat, it actually shipped and despite it chewing through batteries like crazy it was neat.
I imagine these sorts of chips/sensors have coome leaps and bounds in the past 6ish years. I know that researchers at some point had developed one to monitor blood sugar level for diabetics, this is a neat application too and with more and more states decriminalizing marijuana I bet you guys will have a lot of customers!
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
This could be used routinely in placed where any drug use is illegal more easily compared to a breathe test which could result in mass arrests.
IANAL: As I understand you can't use a breathalyzer test without a warrant. Even when driving, you have the right to revoke it (other bad things happen, like taking your license away, but you can still refuse). Taking a random standerby and breathalyzing him without consent or a warrant would be wrongful search and seizure.
Great point. In general it differs from country to country. In Australia, they have a random testing program that allows police to breathalyze without a warrant or probable cause. However, in the US roadside breathalyzer tests are voluntary and police require probable cause (visible evidence of swerving, smell alcohol on the breath, etc) to request a test.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Driving impaired in any way shape or form is dangerous. https://www.dailycamera.com/2016/06/09/affidavit-teen-driver...
As is driving unimpaired. https://www.stripes.com/us-army-soldier-three-others-serious...
Yes, automobiles are very dangerous and it'd be great if we used them a lot less.
That said, driving impaired is even more dangerous and I'm totally fine with tools to crack down on it. Smoke or drink all you want, but do it at home or with someone to give you a ride.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#110Is someone driving high dangerous?
no shortage of toxicology literature proving it. check ramaekers' publications. he sticks high folks in real cars on closed tracks to see how they do.