>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.
How is being able to accurately tell if someone is drug driving a bad thing?
Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
271–280 of 421 posts
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#272So many naysayers here, many of which probably aren't sharing the road with cannabis consuming drivers in a region where it is 100% legal like here in Canada. I've consumed it many times, and I know how impaired I'd be behind the wheel. It terrifies me to think of all the idiots who are probably out there driving while stoned, pretending they're "perfectly fine." EDIT: cool, these guys are around the corner from wher…
I was an all-day pothead for 16 years with hundreds of thousands of miles behind the wheel. I had zero at-fault accidents and 2 speeding tickets during that time. I find it hard to support regulating something like THC or other metabolite threshold testing because I feel like it completely ignores the overall relationship to impairment.
Driving with an anger management issue is a much more serious problem in my experience. Why don't we test for that?
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#273Well we can certainly see who smokes weed in here ... and probably who smokes weed and drives.
I'm all for marijuana legalization but sensible tests to prevent driving while high sound good to me.
You can't drive drunk, and marijuana can impair your driving abilities.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#274Sounds interesting. What differentiates your product from others on the market? For example http://www.cannabixtechnologies.com/
Great question.
The two main competitors to our product is Hound Labs and Cannabix (the one you linked). Our main advantages over these two companies are cost and durability (which is kind of a proxy for portability). These advantages mostly stem from our choice of technology for our sensor. Electrochemical immunosensors are very cheap and also do not require any delicate components. Hound Labs is using an fluorescent approach while Cannabix is using something called FAIMS. FAIMS especially is an incredibly complex and expensive technology that isn't really suited to the roadside.
There is a world in which our product is used for screening out in the field and the Cannabix product is used back at the station for more accurate testing. Our companies do have some compatibility that way.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think comments like this are incredibly harmful. There is a strong need for this device, and this person is working to fill the need. To also hoist the responsibility of fixing society's fundamental issues and ask him/her to give up the revenue (not just profit) that they earns is absurd. I would say that this person is doing more than their fair share.
> There is a strong need for this device Show me. "Many people are saying" is not evidence, it's argumentum ad populum. > doing more than their fair share Your opinion, while noted, is disagreeable to me.
What needs to be shown? It is well known that cannabis use while driving is both very common and very dangerous[1]. Or are you trying to argue that breathalyzers are not needed to combat this problem? I would argue that the absence of these devices has caused a great deal of damage to the innocent while making it difficult to detect and punish the guilty[2].
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836260/ [2] https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5914a293e4b030d4f1f0f5ed
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#276Are 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…
I'm shocked that an organization called the Cannabis Control Commission published a report in favor of Cannabis Control!
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#277You wrote "Selling to the police is notoriously difficult" Why is this so? How do you overcome it? Who makes the purchasing decision?
Several reasons. To begin, police have very long sales cycles that are tied to their funding schedule. You need to make sure that you engage with them when their budget has been assigned but they haven't allocated to much of it. They also are very stringent in making sure they buy the correct product. For most large purchases, they do what is called a "request for tenure" in which companies bid on a contract with a given police department, so you have to almost always compete directly with alternatives to your product.
Purchasing decision are distributive differently depending on the size of the police precinct, but in general it is the Chief of Police.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#278I'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…
>Cannabis is not like alcohol in regard to impairment of motor function and decision-making under the influence. As someone has been high a few times before, I would most definitely not agree with this
And someone who has never drank alcohol could easily fall below the BAC limits for impaired driving while still being completely impaired, after just one drink.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure this is just a troll post but wouldn't anyone your property management "caught" using this device simply say they used off the premises and that would be the end of it?
Not a troll just frustrated that potheads are contaminating the air in my state. I can’t walk a mile with my kid without smelling pot in the air. The smell and the effect of irritating my eyes is worse than a cigs smoker standing next to me. To answer your question they could but their apartment will smell like a pot factory once the property management goes into check.
Contaminating the air... k.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#280Well, I do see a lot of potential problems with law enforced using ghettos as an "arrest shop" and the like but that's not really on the technology or your company. In general it's seems like a good thing, nobody wants unresponsive people zipping around in +1 tonne metal boxes.
I'm curious about the "similarly impairing dose" though. Any good research, actual test results, etc?
I'm assuming it's response times which make me curious how the response time of a 25 year old post 3 hour cannabis smoker compares to a +70 year old on a regular day and how that compares to someone at the legal limit for alcohol.