I’ve seen the science behind this device and it’s very basic and flawed. Just hype. Won’t pass local law enforcement in court.
Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
141–150 of 421 posts
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#142I don't understand the negativity in many of the comments here. I'm all for legalization of marijuana, but I actually think that the inability to test for people driving high is a very reasonable argument against legalization. I generally feel that people should be able to make their own choices, but not if those choices involve driving a 3000 pound piece of metal down the highway while impaired. Yes, we need to be c…
Apart from the difficulty of testing, I think the lack of simple guidelines like ‘one drink per hour’ makes it hard for cannabis users to guage their level of intoxication. I’m not sure whether it’s biologically practical, but it would be a big improvement if people generally had a reasonably easy and consistent way to determine how long they should wait as a function of how much they’ve consumed, the delivery method…
The founder claims above that you can't detect it after 3-4 hours. Yes, there are people who will take a puff and be fine to drive an hour later. But there are plenty who won't be. As a general rule, making cannabis legal with the caveat that you can't drive within a minimum of 3-4 hours of using it, even if you feel fine to drive, seems reasonable (obviously, if you still feel impaired, it should be illegal to drive, whether it's detectable or not).
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#143Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#144Sounds 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 makes me wonder how breathalyzers work. If you fail, I assume the police still need to analyze a urine sample to prevent false positives. But probable cause is established with a breathalyzer failure.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#145I don't understand the negativity in many of the comments here. I'm all for legalization of marijuana, but I actually think that the inability to test for people driving high is a very reasonable argument against legalization. I generally feel that people should be able to make their own choices, but not if those choices involve driving a 3000 pound piece of metal down the highway while impaired. Yes, we need to be c…
> but not if those choices involve driving a 3000 pound piece of metal down the highway while impaired
Loads of people make the choice every day to drive while distracted, texting while driving, etc. I see that as a far greater threat that needs to be addressed, and none of those things can be "tested" for when you get pulled over.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#146Is 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.
Since there’s no shortage I’m sure you can provide some solid links to statistics on marijuana-impaired driving deaths?
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 witho…
If breathalyzers were inaccurate, uncalibrated, or unmaintained it would be trivial to get any conviction relying on their measurements thrown out.
What makes you say that?
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#148I don't understand the negativity in many of the comments here. I'm all for legalization of marijuana, but I actually think that the inability to test for people driving high is a very reasonable argument against legalization. I generally feel that people should be able to make their own choices, but not if those choices involve driving a 3000 pound piece of metal down the highway while impaired. Yes, we need to be c…
> but not if those choices involve driving a 3000 pound piece of metal down the highway while impaired Loads of people make the choice every day to drive while distracted, texting while driving, etc. I see that as a far greater threat that needs to be addressed, and none of those things can be "tested" for when you get pulled over.
It's not either/or. We can push for testing for high drivers and push for ways to combat and penalize distracted driving. The fact that high driving apparently can be tested for while distracted driving can't makes this a low-hanging fruit.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#149Sounds 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…
> What’s keeping you in check? It's going to be fairly easy to test this. You take one group of people who haven't smoked in the last few hours and you test them. Make sure it doesn't go off. You take another group who have smoked (I'm sure plenty of college students would be happy to sign up for this trial) and you test them, make sure it does go off. It's pretty simple. It's a machine with an empirical number, so y…
[deleted]
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#150This is the first time I've ever hoped for the complete failure of a company featured in Launch HN. This is an ill-conceived solution to exacerbate an existing injustice: uneven prosecution of laws in the War on Drugs. Shame on you.
Thanks for you comment, and we certainly respect your opinion. Being conscious of the impact of our device on groups that have been historically target by police is something that is on our mind a lot.
I think it is important to recognize that the way drug impaired driving is tackled today is very subjective. Police administer an field sobriety test that involves walking in a straight line, standing on one foot, and touching their nose. They are then able to arrest the individual solely based on their opinion regarding impairment, which is susceptible to their personal biases. Our device can take out a lot of the guesswork and help eliminate biases from the equation.
Also, our device it not assisting police it arresting people for owning or even selling cannabis, just using it before driving. Not only that, but by detecting only recent use, it will reduce the instances of frequent users being improperly charged due to blood tests with large windows of detection.