Re: Marijuana Intoxication Detection Device

[rreschran]

As a tow business owner, there's great concern and liability to ensure your company's tow operators are substance free when driving and operating your tow trucks. There's nothing more scary than having the highway patrol call to advise you that one of your tow trucks just plowed the rear of a stopped car and your tow truck driver was arrested for DUI. Tow industry news constantly reports that tow operators arrive on-scene and are arrested for being under the influence while operating a motor vehicle. For years, there's been technology where DUI by blood, breath or urine  detect levels of alcohol in one's system. Now, with the increased legalization of personal use and medical marijuana comes new technology that can detect the presence of marijuana. I found this really interesting article on new approaching technology of a device that reported can detect MJ. I don't know what side of the MJ debate you're on, but as technology gets better and more affordable, perhaps these kinds of devices will be the standard of employee testing within the workplace. Give this article a read if nothing more than understanding the process and technology. You can be sure that the legal side will certainly challenge the device. Will it stay or will it go away? Only time will tell.     R.

 

Link:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190827123239.htm

[sweetk30]

i never mix work with pleasure !

 

and the smell of 2nd hand weed burning makes my gut want to barf big time . never cared to try it or do it .

 

a few drinks now and then ya fine i enjoy them . but if i have been drinking i will not go to work at all .

[brian991219]

This is the technology I have been waiting for. Once perfected it will allow for relaxing the rules on marijuana use and driving somewhat. Although I do not partake in using any chemical mood altering substance I do not hold it against those that do provided they are safe about it. Meaning, don't smoke weed and drive or report to work high.

 

As a compliance consultant I am asked almost weekly about using marijuana derivatives and truck driving. Even some of the CBD oils on the market today that claim to be THC free still will result in a positive DOT drug test. This is because "THC free" in technical terms only means the concentration is below the federal prosecution limits, not exactly zero. I have witnessed many good drivers throw their careers away simply by using an over the counter CBD oil or other product then fail a DOT drug test. For this reason I can not advise anyone that is a professional driver to use any of these products until marijuana is removed from the federal list of prohibited substances for truck drivers.

 

Although still a federally prohibited substance for commercial drivers, meaning no use including prescription medical or recreational, I see a day coming when marijuana use will be treated the same as alcohol use in trucking. There will be a prohibition of so many hours before coming on duty and not ever while on duty. By having a reliable intoxication test this is feasible.

 

The problem with marijuana use and driving currently is there is no reliable way to tell if the THC present in the suspects body is causing a high or is just residual since it takes so long to clear out. A breathalyzer, if it can be calibrated to detect immediate usage and level of intoxication reliably will give us a means to allow off-duty use of marijuana and it's derivatives. Since this is becoming accepted by society we need a reliable way to determine intoxication. I think this machine will be a game changer if it proves to be reliable in the field.

[rreschran]

Hi Brian ... now that you're feeling better .. I HAVE to pick on you just for fun. Through my LE experience and research, I've determined that Mc Donald's has 350 sesame seeds on each of their hamburger buns. Chemically speaking, sesame seeds contain trace amounts of morphine and codeine - substances found in opium and heroin. Consuming foods with sesame seeds won't have the same effect as these drugs, however, the traces will appear in a urine sample and give a false positive reading. I have to ask ... if I eat two Big Mac's before I test ... will I lose my job? At the moment ... I'm more concerned about losing the ability to have Big Mac's versus losing my job. What do you advise?     R.

[sweetk30]

if we are picking then on your LE past can be be found guilty of killing someone with to many lima beans ? since they have traces of cyanide in them in raw form .

 

🤨 😀

 

Like many legumes, the seemingly innocent lima bean should not be eaten raw — doing so can be lethal. (And who wants to die in such an ignoble way as death by lima bean?) Also known as butter beans, the legumes can contain a high level of cyanide, which is part of the plant's defense mechanism.

Here in the U.S. there are restrictions about cyanide levels in commercially grown lima bean varieties, but not so in less developed countries, and many people can get sick from eating them. Even so, lima beans should be cooked thoroughly, and uncovered to allow the poison to escape as gas. Also, drain the cooking water to be on the safe side.

Edited October 23, 2019 by sweetk30

[rreschran]

Maybe you've stepped on to a monstrous big possibility that my mom was trying to kill me and all my siblings by feeding us lima's all those years as a kid?  Now I have to questions the statute of limitations?  R

[brian991219]

2 hours ago, rreschran said:

Hi Brian ... now that you're feeling better .. I HAVE to pick on you just for fun. Through my LE experience and research, I've determined that Mc Donald's has 350 sesame seeds on each of their hamburger buns. Chemically speaking, sesame seeds contain trace amounts of morphine and codeine - substances found in opium and heroin. Consuming foods with sesame seeds won't have the same effect as these drugs, however, the traces will appear in a urine sample and give a false positive reading. I have to ask ... if I eat two Big Mac's before I test ... will I lose my job? At the moment ... I'm more concerned about losing the ability to have Big Mac's versus losing my job. What do you advise?     R.

Pick away my friend, pick away. Seriously though, yes there are trace amounts of many prohibited substances in many ordinary everyday items we consume. Typically the threshold levels in the intoxication tests or in this case DOT drug and alcohol testing requirements take that into consideration.

 

I do not have any idea about the sesame seeds, that is a new one to me, however there is a consensus among athletic drug testing providers that poppy seeds may cause a false positive for opiates. They claim that depending on the source country and the processing method for the seeds there may be trace amounts of opium on the seeds. This may result in a detectable amount in the urine within a few hours of consumption and up to 72 hours later. That said, my breakfast of choice as a professional driver for the last 30 years has been ham and egg on an everything bagel (which includes poppy and sesame seed) and I have never returned a positive drug test result. I never refrained from eating my normal breakfast before any test either.

 

In nearly 30 years I have only read reports of two false positives that were traced back to something the subject had ingested excluding prescription medicine that was not properly declared to the medical review officer. That is not to say it does not happen, just that in the course of my job duties I have only seen it twice over thousands of tests that I have been responsible for.

[rreschran]

Great answer ... remember now ... I was only havin' fun OK?    R.