Earlier quoted context omitted.
Certainly. That's not a good reason to let people drive high or drunk though.
It would be a good reason to put effort into a "breath test for sleep" before other "breath test for X" methods / devices.
Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
411–420 of 421 posts
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#412A given level of THC affects some a lot more than others. There are people who feel extremely "high" with 20 milligrams, and others who feel nothing. I do not believe you have a solution to this problem. The only thing a police officer should be permitted to do is give a field sobriety test. These devices are going to create more problems than they solve.
Field sobriety tests are far worse than something objective like this. If a cop has it in for you, you are going to fail the sobriety test regardless of how impaired you actually are.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#413I remember reading a story about a Grandmother who ate a strong pot brownie everyday for medical reasons and it had little noticeable effect on her. We know there's a direct correlation between alcohol levels and driving impairment, but I've not seen evidence for this link with THC. Are there studies that have found this? (Please forgive my ignorance...) If someone uses X amount of marijuana (what this tech can estab…
As a few people have mentioned already, there really is not a foolproof correlation between "amount taken" and "degree of impairment" for any drug. Even for alcohol, frequent alcohol users can build up significant tolerance. In general, blood concentrations for THC are pretty good at identifying impairment for infrequent users (greater than 90% predictive in some studies), but are very inaccurate for frequent users w…
Emphasis on this.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
You raise a good point. Interestingly, your comments run contrary to what a lot of law enforcement officers have said to us. In general, the police are hyper vigilant about buying only devices that are independently validated to be very accurate. Every conversation we have had has eventually lead to "is it NHTSA approved?". The reason for this need for third party validation is that the police are incredibly court ro…
I admire what you're doing, and hope you can adhere to scientific integrity while developing and selling your product, but that simply isn't true. At least in Washington state. A few years ago Washington State purchased a whole bunch of Draeger 9510 (alcohol breathalyzer) units without ever having tested them. After two years of sitting unused, the warranties were going to expire and they finally got around to testin…
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't even understand how this is a question in anyone's mind.
Because studies show that Marijuana results in no functional impairment in test courses? Maybe you should learn to trust data and science rather than just your preheld beliefs that aren't necessarily rooted in sound logic or reasoning. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/#S3titl...
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
I personally think it's utterly disgusting that people are allowed to operate what are essentially giant weapons in public with extremely minimal testing or training, and with minimal limits on alcohol usage. I think it's totally reasonable to ask people to give up some of the rights they'd normally have, when those people want to operate heavy machinery in public. My understanding is that GA pilots are not allowed t…
It takes between 1 - 3 hours for a single mixed drink or pint of beer to be metabolized. As a starting point I think you will agree that someone who has a BAC of zero ought to be able to drive. The majority of drunk driving accidents are the result of people that are plowed. More disturbing by far those who ARE caught and jailed have driven hundreds of thousands of miles drunk as a skunk before actually getting taken…
Not if they are tired or hungover. I mean, I don't think people should drive when they are tired for other reasons, either. It's a dangerous thing, and something you should only do when you are at your best.
Alcohol is just an easy target (and an important target) because it both degrades your actual ability, while at the same time, increasing your opinion of your ability. Because of that second effect, it's especially difficult to tell when you have had too much to drive... because one of the common side effects of alcohol is an increase in confidence.
It should be difficult to drive, and it should be easy to lose the ability to drive.
>Instead of tightening already reasonable standards to ridiculous levels we would save vastly more lives by actually enforcing the laws we have effectively.
eh, we already have rules against driving tired. they just lack an objective test.
I think that if you think you can operate a motor vehicle or a gun in public at 0.06, you are not being nearly careful enough. (And I suspect the additional confidence that alcohol gives you might actually contribute much to accident rates. I know I certainly feel more confident one drink in, and confidence is deadly when you are operating weapons or heavy machinery around other people.)
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because studies show that Marijuana results in no functional impairment in test courses? Maybe you should learn to trust data and science rather than just your preheld beliefs that aren't necessarily rooted in sound logic or reasoning. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/#S3titl...
Have you never seen anyone super stoned before? What studies do you even need beyond that? Yeah there is a scale before people shouldn't be driving, and this device will help enforce that line. It may take time and work, but better than nothing.
The study contradicts your assertions and does so in a rigorous controlled study. Obviously that holds more weight than your anecdotes or statements that have no empirical or logical basis.
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#418Sounds 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…
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
I admire what you're doing, and hope you can adhere to scientific integrity while developing and selling your product, but that simply isn't true. At least in Washington state. A few years ago Washington State purchased a whole bunch of Draeger 9510 (alcohol breathalyzer) units without ever having tested them. After two years of sitting unused, the warranties were going to expire and they finally got around to testin…
Thanks for the info. Definitely something we have not run into or considered yet. I guess we just naively assumed that all police precincts were as scrupulous as those we talked to :(. There is some stuff we can do, however. For instance, we can directly build the QC schedule into the device so it does not work unless you get it calibrated. We can also have QC cartridges that have a barcode that the device reads to m…
Re: Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
#420Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you looking for statistics with marjiuana or impairment in general?
marjiuana curious how it compares to other drugs.
https://madd.ca/pages/impaired-driving/overview/cannabis-and...