Posted on 12/31/2013 9:27:46 AM PST by nickcarraway
The car and weed capital of the world has become one of the first major cities to roll out a breathalyzer for pot. Sort of.
ABC News is reporting that the LA City Attorney is deploying oral swab tests in the field that can detect the presence of marijuana’s main active ingredient, THC. The swabs could lead to convictions for driving under the influence.
issue of CULTURE magazine, such swabs are not breathalyzers in the traditional sense. They can’t tell officers how much THC you have in your system. But combined with ‘zero tolerance’ ‘per se’ laws like those in Arizona, they don’t need to. The mere presence of broken down pot molecules in the body weeks after last use is enough to convict in Arizona.
In California, the bar is higher. Driving high is illegal, but prosecutors have to prove you are high. There is no “per se” limit on pot like alcohol’s .08, because the presence of THC does not correlate to impairment like it does with alcohol. Still, these new THC swabs will help L.A. cops build their case, ... and hopefully scare some stoners into taking advantage of pizza delivery instead of take-out options.
They’re already “drug dealers”; they tax the sale of alcohol. I actually think this is an area where tax makes sense. Both alcohol and marijuana have a cost to society in terms of the damage they cause. While I don’t support the war on drugs, I do think it is reasonable to tax the products so that the consumers of the product are the ones footing that bill. The alternative is to pass the cost along to everyone.
The benefit to consumers is that they’ll be getting a product from a legitimate source, rather than buying it from some criminal who may have laced it with God-knows-what. Might cost less too. I’m not sure on that as I don’t purchase weed.
Now all we need is a breathalyzer for cops to see whether they are following the Fourth Amendment. (To say nothing of the Second.)
The same people who legalized it in Colorado could pass a ballot initiative banning these tests, I’m sure.
Pot stays in the blood for a long time, and can be detected in urinalysis for weeks after use.
However, an oral swab may be more reliably able to detect recent pot use, in a time frame that would be consistent with a person’s being under the influence. That, along with other information (e.g. evidence of impaired behavior) just might be enough to establish DUI.
I think the test needs validation, however.
Good. Somehow, driving stoned - which is just as dangerous as driving drunk - seems to have been given a pass. Also, showing up for work stoned, getting stoned on your lunch hour...all of which I have seen at various places I’ve worked ... has no negative consequences. Time for this to change.
Yep, illegal aliens will just be given a pass.
Next step is to set up roadblocks, collect swabs, and save to dna database.
Seize property, buy more tanks, drones, begin culling the population, build new re-education camps, stock up on Zyklon-B...
Hey, while they’re at it they should start road blocks to test all the old folks for prescription medications.
Lets fill the jails and seize assets of the elderly since they have most of the money.
Government and those in it need the $$ for their lottery style pension funds which are quickly being looted by the same people running government.
It doesn’t actually detect THC, it detects munchies.
> Seize property, buy more tanks, drones, begin culling the population, build new re-education camps, stock up on Zyklon-B...
Just saw the new Hunger Games. Actually it was a great movie and made fun of liberal stereotypes plus The Peope were revolting against their tyrant government. Better than the 1st
I haven’t seen it yet. Halfway thru a camrip of the new Hobbit movie, not bad. Started a new movie “Don Jon” killed it after 5 min...it is filthy/disgusting...
> I haven’t seen it yet. Halfway thru a camrip of the new Hobbit movie, not bad. Started a new movie “Don Jon” killed it after 5 min...it is filthy/disgusting...
I have no interest in liberal produced movies that think that sex scenes and CG can substitute for a good storyline or dialogue or promotes ideaologies or agendas subliminially. I’m no saint but I try to stay on the path and detest the use of GD flippantly in scripts. I wouldn’t mind a rating that denotes the use of GD in the movies so I can avoid them. This han’t been addressed to the best of my knowledge but it needs to be IMO.
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