Breath test being developed to detect pot
By Melissa Santos, News Tribune
A team at Washington State University is working to develop a breath test that could quickly determine whether a driver is under the influence of marijuana.
Law enforcement officers already use preliminary breath tests in the field to estimate drivers’ blood alcohol content. But no similar portable tool exists to test for marijuana impairment via a breath sample.
Stoned drivers have become an increasing concern since Washington voters legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2012. A quarter of blood samples taken from drivers in 2013, the first full year the initiative was in effect, came back positive for pot.
WSU chemistry professor Herbert Hill said that existing technologies — including those already used by airport security and customs agents to detect drugs and explosives — can be re-purposed to test breath for THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana.
There is a huge difference between drivers who are drunk and those who are high. A drunk driver sees a stop sign, but because of impaired reflexes, will drive right through without ever slowing down. In contrast, a driver who is high will see the stop sign, come safely to a full stop and wait patiently until the sign turns green.
Steve Kubby, that’s funny.
And I’m absolutely for full legalization of marijuana. But your statement of how pot affects drivers is not quite true.
Different people react differently to it. And the strength of marijuana can vary wildly. While you, who smoke regularly and may be absolutely capable under the influence, somebody else may not be. I don’t smoke, because it wipes me out completely. There is no way I could drive after smoking pot.
Nobody should drive impaired.
Last Christmas I was coming home from the valley in the afternoon and followed a car for several miles up the canyon. It was full of twenty-somethings, and was almost cartoonish, the cloud of smoke that emanated from it. The car REEKED. And its speed varied from 35 mph up to 65 mph, with no rhyme or reason, passing lane or no. The car was a hazard, and I got away from it as soon as I was able. Of course, I don’t know that they hadn’t ingested other stuff as well, but still. Nobody should drive impaired.
That said, (twice!) allowing the government to determine how impaired somebody is by an arbitrary measurement of chemicals doesn’t work either. What is fine for one person isn’t necessarily fine for another. The police are overly zealous in their search for revenue and control these days.
Its gonna be interesting to see how accurate it is. It is long overdue for a field test like this.
To say that a stoned driver will pull up to a stop sign and wait for the light to turn green is ridiculous. I have run a stop light and nearly hit a pedestrian a few years ago because I was stoned. I was a little too high and just zoned out. That was the last time I smoked. No one who is impaired needs to be behind the wheel. We may have seen an example of this on Pioneer Trail last week that brought tragedy to a family who lost a young life and another one ruined for making a bad decision. The breath test idea is also a great thing for the work place since one can smoke on their time and not be fired just because THC showed up in the blood. Similar to how alcohol is treated in the workplace.
my sentiments re: individuals experience a range of impairment in relation to tolerance buildup and general physiology. across the board, though, smoking pot causes some form of impairment short and long term. and i, too, am for legalization.
The only test that should be done is one that tests for the ACTIVE THC in the blood. Medical users will have a build up of the metabolites that indicate use built up in their systems that will almost always test at the 5 nano grams per ml limit. The active THC only lasts about two hours. Big difference between testing for prior use and testing to see if the subject is actually “Under the influence.”
everybody in town is stoned.
eating cookies.
smoking joints.
shooting dope.
snorting powder.
taking zanexe.
that’s the way it is around here.
that’s how it’s always been.
don’t forget drunk off their ass.
@Chief…not this man.
Kubby has obviously been smoking too much of his beloved pot if he thinks being stoned has no effect on a persons driving skills. He is a good example of how it impairs ones ability to use a keyboard. Slow thinking at the least, logical in no way and bairly humorous, more embarrassing and well, pass the joint…
This is overdue and a nationwide devise to test for DUI is needed with a standard for prosecution. I do have to wonder if this is being bankrolled by fast food delivery companies because all the stoned people that don’t leave home would be good for business.
Read Kubby’s post carefully; it’s a JOKE.
Dog, it made me laugh, he was obviously being sarcastic. My 19 yr old nephew would always tell me how great a driver he was stoned. He got in a accident it took me awhile to get him to aadmitted that he was so stoned that he didn’t even remember how it happened.
Every one with too much pot smoke on their brains sees green everywhere and think that everyone else can’t smell the skunk smell on them from a hundred yards away.
Steve Steve Steve….. Stop misleading the readers and public to justify your love affair with pot!!! You seem to be so clouded by the a one that you either ignore or twist the facts to meet your agenda. There is no difference between driving under the influence, regardless if it’s alcohol, marijuana or Rx drugs, under the influence is under the influence PERIOD. Yes, people who smoke marijuana and drive have caused accidents, traffic violations and other traffic related incidents. Plus, approximately 3 out of 5 DUIs are now marijuana related and not alcohol!!!! Read the facts and don’t buy into the smoke screen Kubby loves to put up!!!!
Joke or not, Kubby has made several statements both on LTN and in public that driving “high” is a lie and doesn’t exist!!!!
Hey JT, it was just a little joke about driving while under the influence on pot as opposed to alcohol or prescription drugs, which I feel is a larger problem that we should all not fall short on. Let’s not make a small problem into anything more than it is. Let’s stand tall and advise all drivers to operate their vehicles sober, or be big enough to call a cab or take public transportation.