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Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

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Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#161

Post by [deleted] »

ruffrey wrote: post #144
woah wrote: post #4

Sounds 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.

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#162

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

Can you create a breathalyzer for biases next so we can police the cops?

Seriously, why do we need MORE police tech when current tech is already abused beyond belief?

Please rethink your values and reconsider the unintended consequences you might have by feeding into such a violent system. Or take responsibility for how you enable abuse of people using your tech.

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#164

Post by weaksauce »

itsangaris wrote: post #129

Given there are countless substances that are hard/impossible to test for that could affect someone's ability to drive, the solution to this issue seems not to invent a new device for each substance but to come up with a more generalized test to measure someones level of impairment — reaction times are a good proxy.

Yeah, what happens when the next drug comes to legalization? A new device and a new dubious test with a 20 dollar per test charge? Maybe a cop should have a PlayStation and a driving wheel to test for impairment. Or a button that you have to press when you see something on the screen.

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#165

Post by danenania »

chadash wrote: post #142
danenania wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It does sound reasonable as a conservative default, but the same could be said about driving after two or three drinks—while it certainly doesn’t make anyone a better driver, good laws often try to strike a balance between public safety and not over-criminalizing extremely common and relatively low risk behavior.

Edit: What do you think would happen if we made a strict law that anything more than 0.0% BAC = a DWI? My guess is you’d end up with a lot fewer slightly intoxicated drivers, and a lot more extremely intoxicated drivers, because people will figure they might as well just drink as much as they want if they’re already breaking the law anyway.

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#166

Post by SannTek »

itsangaris wrote: post #93

Driving with an inadequate amount of sleep is almost certainly more dangerous and ubiquitous than having consumed a normal amount of cannabis (drowsy driving even causes more accidents than drunk driving). If we're going down this road, is there a similar effort to enforce and test for a minimum amount of sleep for drivers?

In general, that standard field sobriety test (walk in a straight line, stand on one foot, touch your nose, horizontal gaze nystagmus test) is used to gauge that kind of impairment. There are some companies that are working on automating the SFST, especially the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, but it is actually really difficult to build a device that is easy and portable but is also as accurate as a police officer.

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#167

Post by grawprog »

Noah_SannTek wrote: post #46
grawprog wrote: post #3

>we're imagining a world where there are one of our devices in every police car in North America. Sounds like a terrible world honestly.

I wonder, if we got the opportunity to talk to the folks that invented the alcohol breathalyzers, if they had the same kind of pushback? Alcohol breathalyzers help deter drunk drivers, but there is nothing currently out there to help deter cannabis-impaired drivers. There's definitely an education piece associated with this.

I see marijuana and alcohol compared a lot with various things, that's the point where I stop participating in the conversation. It's pointless to compare two drugs with wildly different effects, onsets, durations and side effects. I disagree heavily with them being used as a point of comparison when it comes to effects on motor skills, coordination and general dangerous behaviour. I've personally imbibed both enough, been around enough people intoxicated on one or the other to know they're not comparable.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that that, in high doses, causes an extreme degredation to motor skills, coordination, and thought patterns and can cause a loss of conciousness.

I agree there should be safety regulations in regards to weed but, breathalyzers and typical drug and alcohol tests are not an effective way to gauge the level of cannabis intoxication for an indiviual.

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#168

Post by nlh »

Interesting idea (congrats on launching) and interesting discussion here. Reading this thread has popped up some questions in my mind and I'm curious to hear thoughts:

Why do we (aka society aka the police) test for specific substance quantities at all? Really, I think, what we care about is whether someone is able to competently perform the task of driving at a given moment.

If you are unable to perform that task, then you should be removed from the road (and, possibly, punished).

Frankly, I don't really care whether you're drunk, high, tired, distracted from texting or even if you're just a plain 'ol bad driver. The net result is the same - you're an increased risk to others on (and off) the road and your risk should be mitigated.

This gets to the root of a number of related issues - the fact that different bodies react to different levels of chemicals in different ways, etc. etc.

If you're able to function at a given moment, fine by me. If your driving is compromised for whatever reason (as demonstrated by a field sobriety test), then off the road you go.

Thoughts / corrections / slap-downs?

Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis

#170

Post by SannTek »

koolba wrote: post #8

Would this be able to track edibles?

We are actually testing edibles right now! Early results don't look so good, but that could be because we were using our crappy LC-MS for detection instead of our sensor. We'll keep everyone updated with how it goes!
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