Tech versus tech in marijuana drug enforcement

The holy grail of industries catering to marijuana drug enforcement is to create a workable marijuana breathalyzer so THC detection is as simple as detecting alcohol use. There are problems with the venture.

Alcohol and cannabis are two distinctly different substances. Alcohol can be very quickly detected as an evaporated gas using a cheap device, while THC is detectable only within tiny liquid droplets expelled from the throat and lungs. Detecting the small sample sizes requires highly accurate technologies that collect breath samples in containers which then need to be shipped to the company’s lab for analysis.

The next obstacle is to correlate THC levels with levels of impairment. Unfortunately for the instrumentation manufacturer and the company’s investors, levels of use never actually correlate with impairment. In theory a novice marijuana smoker might demonstrate a limited impairment while they get acquainted with all the friendly cannabinoids. A more experienced consumer can adjust their mood and behavior to meet certain requirements such that they appear to show no impairment at all. There are no set safety standards or limits for marijuana impairment as there are for excess alcohol consumption. Unlike many people who consume too much alcohol, cannabis consumers can still walk a straight line.

Deployability of a marijuana breathalyzer remains a problem for its marketability. In the case of a breathalyzer developed and funded for $481,103 by a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the University of Colorado Boulder developed a device in which two breath tests are required about an hour apart to distinguish recent cannabis use from past use. In a real life situation the technology is not practical. A police stop using the device would require detaining a suspect for an hour or more just to obtain two points on a graph that don’t actually signify impairment but rather offer only a timeline for THC consumption. The window of opportunity is limited. THC’s effects can peak within minutes of smoking or vapor inhalation or up to two hours after consuming an edible.

Under development is an ambitious approach to detecting marijuana use that acknowledges THC levels don’t correlate with physical or motor impairment. Researchers hope to create a device to read a person’s mind, one that employs virtual reality-based eye movement sensors that recognize certain physical processes which reveal the presence of THC.

Lurking in the background is a new technology that threatens to derail the entire alcohol and marijuana breathalyzer industry. Tesla robotaxis are being rolled out in Austin, Texas, and self-driving or driver-assist technologies should be available in a few years on many other types of EVs. Cops who find themselves fanatically compelled to bust every last remaining pot smoking hippie on earth will be forced to stop people while the vehicle is doing the speed limit and only if the drug suspects happen to be smoking onboard or have already used weed. Inside their AI controlled vehicle will be activated charcoal air filters that remove odors arising from marijuana smoke and wildfires. New and unique legal situations will come into play. Given these circumstances will the officer arrest the passengers or will the officer arrest the AI automobile that has evidence of prior marijuana use trapped in its air filters? How expensive and time consuming are lab analyses of charcoal filters? What about citizens authorized to use marijuana medicinally? And what about the $400 air filter in their Tesla, will it be free to go?

The drug war is like all other wars. When wars end people and corporations lose opportunities to profit. It therefore makes sense to guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the drug enforcement industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist for as long as marijuana is illegal.