Re:Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
by chadash on Friday August 16, 2019 @03:03PM
(#20718506)
The founder claims above that you can't detect it after 3-4 hours. Yes, there are people who will take a puff and be fine to drive an hour later. But there are plenty who won't be. As a general rule, making cannabis legal with the caveat that you can't drive within a minimum of 3-4 hours of using it, even if you feel fine to drive, seems reasonable (obviously, if you still feel impaired, it should be illegal to drive, whether it's detectable or not).
Re:Launch HN: SannTek (YC S19) – Breathalyzer for Cannabis
by danenania on Friday August 16, 2019 @03:18PM
(#20718686)
It does sound reasonable as a conservative default, but the same could be said about driving after two or three drinks—while it certainly doesn’t make anyone a better driver, good laws often try to strike a balance between public safety and not over-criminalizing extremely common and relatively low risk behavior.
Edit: What do you think would happen if we made a strict law that anything more than 0.0% BAC = a DWI? My guess is you’d end up with a lot fewer slightly intoxicated drivers, and a lot more extremely intoxicated drivers, because people will figure they might as well just drink as much as they want if they’re already breaking the law anyway.
Right now it’s just completely subjective and that makes it easy for someone to justify DUI when they would never do so if similarly impaired by alcohol.
We need research and education as much as (and probably more than) enforcement.