SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the know-who-you-are-French-kissing dept.
This November, several US states will vote whether to legalize marijuana use, joining more than 20 states that already allow some form of cannabis use. This has prompted a need for effective tools for police to determine on the spot whether people are driving under the influence. Stanford researchers have devised a potential solution, applying magnetic nanotechnology, previously used as a cancer screen, to create what could be the first practical roadside test for marijuana intoxication.
While police are trying out potential tools, no device currently on the market has been shown to quickly provide a precise measurement of a driver's marijuana intoxication as effectively as a breathalyzer gauges alcohol intoxication. THC, the drug's most potent psychoactive agent, is commonly screened for in laboratory blood or urine tests – not very helpful for an officer in the field. The Stanford device might function as a practical "potalyzer" because it can quickly detect not just the presence of THC in a person's saliva, but also measure its concentration.
http://phys.org/news/2016-09-potalyzer-roadside-saliva-marijuana-intoxication.html
[Source]: Stanford University
[Abstract]: Small Molecule Detection in Saliva Facilitates Portable Tests of Marijuana Abuse
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @11:59AM
Must be a fellow Michigander. Come out here Colorado way. Michigan is an authoritarian hellhole who put a prohibitionist in charge of implementing their medical cannabis system that gives the patient no other option than to engage the black market. The assholes in Lansing think they can dictate what's a valid medical use for cannabis and what just isn't allowed. Your money is no good to them next to the smug self-satisfaction of knowing what's best for you and forcing you, at gunpoint, to accept it.
The reason they don't care that they haven't eliminated the black market is because they are the black market. That's right, sheriff gonna hassle you and fine you while his nephew sells to you at black market prices. Isn't corruption wonderful?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 10 2016, @01:58PM
Good thing we don't have single-payer healthcare or the government could come between you and your doctor.
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday September 11 2016, @05:52AM
My country has single-payer healthcare and our Supreme Court (part of the government) first ruled that doctors had a right to prescribe marijuana and the government has to make it possible and then when we got a tough on crime government who made it hard to get, the Supreme Court ruled that if you have a prescription, you can grow it or delegate someone else to grow it for you. Nice to have a Constitutional right to life, liberty and security of person.
Next year the government has promised to carry out their election promise of legalization, it'll be interesting to see how they do it. I'd be happy with the liquor rules, over 19 to buy, with a limited number of places to buy, like liquor stores, and the right to grow personal pot just like we can make wine or beer.