Marijuana opponents act like when marijuana becomes legal, our roads will instantly become so unsafe that everyone should fear for their lives. The fact is, traffic fatalities are at an all time low in Colorado after they legalized marijuana. But never mind that pesky fact, clearly there is a need to find ways to fix this problem that doesn’t exist (sarcasm). That’s why the State of Colorado recently granted $250,000 to a company that creates alcohol breathalyzers to see if they can develop a similar device for marijuana. Per The Cannabist:
The grant, which requires matching funds from the company, will allow Lifeloc Technologies to speed development of a tool that will be marketed to law enforcement, corrections, schools and workplaces.
“There is no equivalent of a marijuana breathalyzer today. Law enforcement does not have a fast, reliable and non-invasive THC impairment test available at roadside,” Lifeloc president Barry Knott said in a statement.
The fact of the matter is there will likely never be a device that can accurately measure current marijuana impairment. Yes, a device can detect if someone has marijuana in their system, but since marijuana stays in a person’s system for weeks and weeks at a time, there’s no way to determine if that individual had recently consumed marijuana, or had done so safely weeks before being pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence. This grant is a waste of money, but I’m sure there are political motivations behind it, which is why I wouldn’t be surprised to see even more money thrown at the idea if/when it fails to succeed.
