Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 421 posts

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

#171

Post by anon9001 »

Noah_SannTek wrote: post #62
reroute1 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but also comparing driving under the influence of alcohol with driving under the influence of cannabis is definitely not congruent.

This gets us to a weird gray zone of.. how impaired is too impaired? Many would say that any level of impaired is not ok, and I would definitely agree. Check out what the national highway traffic safety administration has to say about this: https://feeldifferentdrivedifferent.org/

I'd rather ride with a stoned driver than a drunk driver any day. I'd also prefer a stoned driver over an elderly driver or a sleep deprived driver. And if I had the choice between a totally sober driver or a driver on stimulants, I'd take the stimulant driver.

If this was really about reducing risk on the road, we should somehow incentivize people like OP to work on the self-driving car problem, rather than come up with a device to catch stoned drivers. Think how much brain power and law enforcement time is going to be taken up dealing with stoned drivers. The rational thing to do would be to let people drive stoned, arrest those who are visibly impaired and can't perform a field sobriety test, and focus our efforts on getting AI to replace all human drivers.

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

#172

Post by computerex »

4NDR10D wrote: post #29

Great job to the founders, awesome to see more cool companies out of the UW nano program. Curious why all the negativity, perhaps people are unaware that cannabis actively DOES impair driving to dangerous levels. Also, as this startup is from Canada I'm almost certain the mindframe of the founders is to develop a device that makes legalization EASIER, not allowing police to use it catch and arrest people on the stree…

Do you have any proof that cannabis impairs driving?

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

#175

Post by sergiomattei »

nlh wrote: post #168

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, t…

You can test and arrest for objective things, not subjective ones.

"Who can or can't drive" is a subjective criteria. Objective criteria is someone under the influence of x or y substance.

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

#176

Post by cbthrowaway »

I've been a daily cannabis user for over a decade. I have a prescription for this, like millions of others with prescriptions for psychoactive medications without driving limitations. Would you send someone to prison for driving because they took their Adderall that morning? Cannabis is not like alcohol in regard to impairment of motor function and decision-making under the influence. Surely the same concentrations of particulate correlate to different levels of impairment in different individuals. Of course it is possible for individuals to be impaired by cannabis to the extent that driving would be dangerous. There are many factors. I'm wary of a device that purports to determine actions as dangerous based on the the measure of some particulate in the breath.

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

#177

Post by alex_young »

SannTek wrote: post #87
alex_young wrote: post #48

Are we even sure this is a problem? There seems to be no consensus on the impact of driving on THC [0]. THC has neurocognitive impacts, but those tend to be small and long lasting. It would be strange to tell users they can't drive for 30 days or longer. [0] https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/26/driving-whil...

The science is actually pretty concrete regarding the impairing effects of THC. Because cannabis is a schedule 1 drug, it can be very difficult for researchers to get their hands on real world doses of THC. Instead, they use very low doses that are not relevant to what is actually sold at dispensaries. For a really good review of all things cannabis impairment, I would recommend looking through the following report b…

What do you think about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report to Congress? https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/81...

It seems pretty clear in terms of the art of the science and the impairment observed from actual national data.

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

#178

Post by kazinator »

cbthrowaway wrote: post #176

I've been a daily cannabis user for over a decade. I have a prescription for this, like millions of others with prescriptions for psychoactive medications without driving limitations. Would you send someone to prison for driving because they took their Adderall that morning? Cannabis is not like alcohol in regard to impairment of motor function and decision-making under the influence. Surely the same concentrations o…

> I have a prescription for this.

Let's see that ... oh, come now, you do not have a family doctor named Robert N. Marley!

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

#179

Post by computerex »

SannTek wrote: post #150
strict9 wrote: post #28

This 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…

Have you guys actually established a relationship between presence of THC and actual driving impairment? I doubt it. Seems to me that you guys are just out to make a quick buck and the way you are framing the rhetoric is just a nice story.

At what levels of THC concentrations is driving empirically impaired and is this measurement consistent across everyone? What evidence do you have to support that THC impairs driving?

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

#180

Post by SannTek »

eof wrote: post #40

How does your device work for people who have taken edibles vs smoking? I am not a chemist nor biologist, but ethanol escapes through mucus membranes and afaik, thc does not. So, I am curious what mechanism has thc in the breath while people are “impaired” but not while they are heavy users that haven’t had any thc for 24 hours.

Great question. The pathway by which THC gets into your breath has not been well studied that this point. That is one of the things we are actually trying to enable!

In general, it appears that it is a mix of deposition directly into the lungs and diffusion from the blood stream. Other non-volatiles, such as other drugs of abuse taken intravenously, have been detected in breath before. I would check out the research done by Olof Beck. He is fairly prolific in this space.

We are actually testing edibles right now, so we will know more in the coming months.

Post reply on HN