Puff, Puff, Fail? The Emergence of THC Breathalyzers
Hound Lab THC Breathalyzer
The Age of Playing It Cool May Be At An End
Anyone who enjoys lighting up a joint at the end of a long work day, or starting their morning with a bong bowl seems to feel the same way about being high compared to just about everything else. It's safer. You're less of a dick. You can drive better. That one gets a lot of people. They can drive better when they're stoned. That idea seems to be a recurring sentiment. I can't say for sure that it's because most stoners have driven drunk and driven high and noticed the characteristically wide margin of error skewing heavily in favor of pot as the safest option should you need to risk driving home at three in the morning after a night out, or three in the afternoon after a quick bake session inspires an appetite for crinkled paper bags folded over themselves to hold the heat-lamp greased goodness your id desires. Or whether it's a more innocent belief stoners hold after having simply been too drunk and too stoned and comparing them as such. All I know for sure is that it's a general agreement in the stoner community that as long as you can handle your high, you'll be fine.
Photo Courtesy of http://www.moody.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000639496/
But we also all know what happens if you ever find yourself glancing at the rearview mirror with a gut sinking heaviness at the realization that the police car you hoped you were imaging was following you so closely because you'd smoked the heady stash that morning and feel a bit racy and paranoid, is actually pulling you over. They're not flashing those lights to get you out of the way because a call for backup at a bank robbery just came through their radio, as opposed to thwarting the crime of wanting munchies or a collectors edition of the latest Xbox game, both on idle whim the way most stoned ideas grow. This is when we repeat like sudden transcendental mediation buffs those three calming words while we white-knuckle the steering wheel: Just be cool, just be cool.
Most stoners eventually get the hang of basic traffic stops realizing that the less you say the better off you are, it's always a good idea to wear sunglasses, and that if you just think of it as a quick thing, a simple encounter, it'll be over with soon. But sometimes it's not. Sometimes shit hits the fan and you find yourself stuck in a verbal tongue-tie where your words and your mouth are in comports with mutiny. By the time the officer ratchets on the cuffs, repeats the words you thought only Law & Order detectives ever spoke, and closes the handleless door on you and leaving you in a small plexiglass encasement like some oddity on display, you suddenly realize everything you ever thought or felt was wrong.
The defacement of your gut motivations and ignorant beliefs begins in one of several places and can lead you almost anywhere depending on who your are and what you feel you're owed. For some it's anger and injustice, a vain belief that what happens to you is deeply personal, unjust, and coerced. The snowflake enraged that gravity should finally fell him. Others just stumble through the motions knowing full well they were in the right and that the system is just a crooked place that tries to entrap and beguile those weak enough to fall prey to it's gnarled jaws of intricate social machinations. You realize it's useless to walkthrough with vain anger and just want it to be over, regardless of your self-devotion. A smaller few see that what they thought might have just been a childish confidence in yourself the same way we all feel infallible to death for some portion of our life until reality adjusts our realization, was actually a reality check. An opportunity to learn from our mistakes.
Anyone who's smoked weed or tried an edible will invariably have their own conclusion as to how THC affects their outlook or performance in work or life. But one thing should be accepted by everyone regardless of your beliefs on anyone's ability to enjoy marijuana as they so choose, and that is that stoners have had a long period in history where they could smoke and run the risk of talking themselves out of roadside 'situations', and those days are coming to an end.
THC breathalyzers are making headway.
Due to a large amount of federal impediments within all issues related to marijuana, little research has been done on the drug that wasn't lopsided with bias or prevented from taking place due to federal regulations. As a result the states that now have legal marijuana use in some form are struggling with how to enforce legal use of the substance on the roadways. It is suspicious that the same fear was never an issue for opiate prescribed drivers and their recent pill ingestion compared to their tolerance. Of course the answer lies with marijuana's current federal status as a schedule one narcotic, but the issue of states rights has again made this a battleground for patient and adult use amid current social uncertainty. As a result states that legalized marijuana are doing all they can to ensure that they are a positive example on how such laws can be implemented. Currently the only tried and true marijuana test most states and employers rely on are blood and urine tests, just as they do for current opiate users, in order to prove whether metabolites from THC are present in the bloodstream or urine.
This is the major issue. Most cannabis users enjoy the plant at different tolerance levels. A newbie or casual smoker with any THC in their system may be far more impaired than a long term medical marijuana patient who uses every day. The result is that testing for metabolite levels in the bloodstream is a faulty indicator of impairment just as a broken taillight is a terrible indicator of a car's current mechanical shape. The answer, as many companies with large financial backing have discovered, are THC breathalyzers.
Now, the fact that tolerance levels are different for everyone means that of course a police officer will always have final say. If you were driving oddly or if you were acting in some way as to cause their trained eyes to spot an inebriated individual, then whatever a breathalyzer says probably won't stop you from going to jail, but it could help you in court.
Photo Courtesy of O'Dea https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pictures_by_O'Dea
There is real need for a THC breathalyzer. If we want the right to smoke a medicine some people feel to be dangerous, just as we're currently allowed to drink alcohol, a substance many people greatly dislike as much as others dislike marijuana and which knowingly alters individual behavior upon consumption, then we must accept the societal constraints on that right for the sake and safety of those who may be affected by its misuse.
THC breathalyzers will come whether you want them to or not. Where laws can be emplaced, a profit can be made, and capitalism finds its way into all forms of governments and personal freedoms. It used to be legal for a cop to drive behind a drunk on their way home to ensure they did so safely, but that only enabled alcoholics rather than combated the problem. The main point of concern comes from how a breathalyzer for THC will actually work.
It turns out that a THC breathalyzer could function very similarly to how the current ones for alcohol do. Anyone who's watched a move, or who was unfortunate enough to find themselves breathing into one at the side of the road late one night, is familiar with the way breathalyzers are supposed to be used, but they may not understand how one actually works.
The concept of the breathalyzer still seems to be the most practical approach, and the industry favorite at the moment seems to be a model currently in the stages of scientific testing by Hound Labs. The science behind their current device seems to be similar in concept to alcohol breathalyzers in the simple fact that you breathe into the device and the results flash on the small LED screen. Their website (http://houndlabs.com/) explains how their product works, but doesn't explain the exact mechanism that detects the TCH metabolites. However guesses can be inferred.
Courtesy of West Midlands Police https://www.flickr.com/photos/westmidlandspolice/8231444871/in/set-72157628510606181/
Alcohol breathalyzers measure the amount of specific metabolites created by the liver to aid with alcohol consumption which burn when they come into contact with a piece of metal that is electrically charged. If there are no alcohol specific metabolites in your breath or bloodstream, then the piece of metal won't detect any interaction and as a result doesn't measure any alcohol. Though certain foods and beverages, even electric cigarette nicotine, can set such alcohol breathalyzers off, they work incredibly well and are backed heavily by scientific and social studies, so they won't disappear any time soon. Not to mention the amount of money that comes from compelling DUI drivers to install mobile breathalyzers within their cars.
One expects that a THC breathalyzer functions similarly. THC specific metabolites should similarly burn when in contact with an electrically charged metal that in turn measures the concentration of such points of contact relaying those results into intelligible data on an LED display. And just as with alcohol breathalyzers, the longer it's been since your last inhale, the less the device will detect. Also like alcohol breathalyzers, all drivers should expect to be required to install one in their car once arrested.
Hound Labs CEO, Dr. Mike Lynn explaining how his device works and why it's designed this way.
The key piece of information to take from this insight is that for daily cannabis smokers, the Hound Labs device will be a massive step in the right direction. If a cop sees red puffy eyes and asks for you to breath, it's legally obligatory for you to comply in many states or face some form of legal or DMV related consequences. But if the officer uses a Hound Labs device, it will only detect whether or not you've smoked within the last 2-3 hours. I'm assuming that even low levels of THC would lead to an arrest, but the amazing thing about the device is that it functions based on what's been learned about THC absorption within the body. As the scientific community now knows, THC is detectable in breath for up to three hours after it's been smoked. After that time your body seems to stop producing the metabolites which are immediately detectable through breath. With edibles the period of breath detection is extended due to the slower release of THC through digestion, and because of such the timeframe for edible detection has not been solidified.
This is big for everyone. What it means is that police now have an accurate method for detecting recent cannabis use via smoking. People who are otherwise abiding by the law will no longer face heavy jail time or fines for offenses related to inaccurate blood work. Marijuana smoked that morning or that weekend can no longer be the smoking gun prosecutors have touted it to be. Now, as long as a police officer doesn't suspect some intoxication based on your inability to control the vehicle, you should be out of harm's way. You may still get a speeding ticket, or some other charge the cop will need to justify them wasting the time they spent on you, but at least you'll be spared the challenges of facing a DUI charge. Speeding five miles over the speed limit is a much better charge to deal with. But if an officer still does charge you despite being cleared by a THC breathalyzer, at least you now have a piece of evidence that falls in your favor, something a lawyer could leverage.
The bottom line is that THC breathalyzers, just like iPhones, will become more widespread and commonplace as the technology is honed and made more affordable and accessible. Though that could be scary to many cannabis enthusiasts out there, there should be a silver lining to the cloud. Such requirements can only mean that we're inching towards a society that allows for personal freedom and individual choice over concrete walls defaming healthful things as cancerous substance. If we continually move towards an ideology that adults should be allowed adult rights and privileges, then the continued need to prevent inebriated drivers will have to be accepted on a flat basis. There is no personal freedom without social obligation. So if an officer pulls you over suspecting your sobriety to be affected, keep your anger, frustration, and fear in check because you might, unfortunately, actually be too stoned to drive. And that's okay. You'll get through it. Just be grateful it wasn't a head on collision that spurred this revelation. Be understanding that you made a decision and not all that we decide will become a benefit, but will always be a lesson.
-E.S. Brown
Sources:
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/07/the-race-to-create-a-marijuana-breathalyzer.html
http://houndlabs.com
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-13/pot-breathalyzer-hits-the-street
Image Sources:
http://www.moody.af.mil/News/Photos/igphoto/2000639496/
https://pixabay.com/en/high-main-street-corner-973678/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pictures_by_O'Dea
https://www.flickr.com/photos/westmidlandspolice/8231444871/in/set-72157628510606181/
http://houndlabs.com/media/
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