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.
Lot of sad people in Colorado when this makes it there.
Thatz just stoopit.
There could be “molecules” of THC in the blood for any number of reasons.
I don’t smoke whacky tuhbacky and wouldn’t be surprised to learn there are “molecules” in my blood.
Why bother?? Just makes for more black market that costs taxpayers untold billions per year to TRY and suppress — which does not work.
It will be a big financial boon for criminal defense lawyers.
If you live in a college dorm, you’ll have molecules of this stuff in your bloodstream. Even if you’ve never smoked pot in your life. On Sunday afternoons in my college dorm, you could cut the pall of pot smoke with a knife.
I lived in a college dorm, I doubt I did.
Surprised it took this long. Back during prohibition the government finally figured ou they could make a lot more money by legalizin alcohol by taxing it, regulaing it, then fining the crap out of people who made poor decisionswhile imbibing on it. Sound familiar? You potheads got sickered...: )
Also makes for people that are easier to control by preying on their weakness and guilting them to death.
Surprised it took this long. Back during prohibition the government finally figured out they could make a lot more money by legalizing alcohol by taxing it, regulating it, then fining the crap out of people who made poor decisions while imbibing on it. Sound familiar? You potheads got sickered...: )
Also makes for people that are easier to control by preying on their weakness and guilting them to death. Also spawns other income opportunities for attorneys and rehab counselors / clinics
Obviously your undergrad dorm wasn’t inhabited by the subspecies ‘studius liberalis artis fartis’.
Hey man aqui en Colorado no problemo
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Given how long THC lingers I expect this challenged
Prolly 20% of US population. Might swab positive
And were talking Kali
Now to teach you boys a lesson, me and officer Rabbit are going to stand
here while you boys smoke the whole bag. Meow.
If they do legalize it, it should only be on the the condition it is not taxed. Do you really want the government to be a drug cartel like the Zetas? If you think the Mexican drug cartels are bad, the U.S. government and large corporations will be when they are drug dealers...
” 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.”
Uh....might just be the end of pizza delivery.
Like it said, it doesn’t prove that you are DUI, just that you smoked some in the past. And if it is legal, then it does not prove that you are high.
Being CA, I suppose illegals with no DL or insurance will be issued a summons to not appear.
Government spends their time figuring out how to take more $$$$$$$ Gain more control....
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