Nevada Highway Patrol Uses Drug Machine to Test Suspected Users

[The Evil Weed]

nanogram= billionth of a gram..The cut off level for cannabinoids in most court systems is 50 nanograms per ml, and usually about 250 nanogarms per ml, because the accuracy of the tests goes down considerably at those levels.. This test some how tests for cannabiniods in the body at 5 nanograms per ml...As a regular everday smoker , there is absolutely no way in hell, you could pass those tests.. It took me 4 months of not smoking at all to get below the cut off point of 50 nanograms per ml.. I guess watch out if you live in lake tahoe, no gamblin in stateline unless you haven't puffed for 3-4 months, or you have a driver cart you around...

America Fuck Yeah!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI&
feature=related

As a regular, everyday smoker there is no way in hell you should be driving either. But I do agree that you shouldn't be charged with driving under the influence when you smoked two weeks ago(or even less than that - you get my point).

 

[legalizekindtok]

This is a end to one of my past times! I like to fill up the tank, pack one and role my windows down with my preset tunes, spark that fucker and drive until im tired of driving! Have ended up states away now just a few cities and go out to eat or pull the boat to a new lake!!
Fuckers!!!

 

[Deft]

This country doesn't need an Egyptian-style rebellion -- there's already 800,000+ people per year arrested for "illicit contact" with cannabis. This country needs a new French Revolution ...

One problem, we are too nice and rational to just go killing tyrants and they know it. There are potentially millions of standalone assassins out there but we are not murders. I could not do it because I would be thinking about what an otherwise nice guy I was preparing to execute.

You'd have to be in imminent danger or crazy, and very few of us are either.

I think we do need to shut down cities and government with millions of protesters but we have no rallying cry, we are too content. We also don't feel comfortable with our right to assemble peaceably since what we do is illegal. We need a sort of distributed denial of service movement with bodies flooding into the major cities and shutting down key bastions of our opponents.

 

[fabvariousk]

I don't have a medical card but what I do have is a letter from a very reputable doc in a non-med state. This letter simply and definitively states that I am bipolar and use marinol and/or cannabis to control my disorder and that they do not inhibit my ability to operate a vehicle and should not disqualify me from any work.
I have gotten around drug tests when I worked years ago at a government lab and saved myself from several dui's in states with draconian cannabis driving laws.
It is all in the wording. My doc did not charge me for this letter and it has no expiration.
Rage against the drug machine.
fk

 

[Rysam]

FUCK NEVADA!
I left there 15 years ago for a reason..5 yrs in NNCC/Stewart was enough.

Unfortunately Im going to Reno on Friday for a B-day party...I hope the Silver Legacy is cool with the Volcano & my rec....


Does NV recognize CA recommendations? Norml says No, but lots of their info appears somewhat outdated

 

[Maj.PotHead]

FUCK NEVADA!
I left there 15 years ago for a reason..5 yrs in NNCC/Stewart was enough.

Unfortunately Im going to Reno on Friday for a B-day party...I hope the Silver Legacy is cool with the Volcano & my rec....


Does NV recognize CA recommendations? Norml says No, but lots of their info appears somewhat outdated

Does NV recognize CA recommendations? Norml says No,

no only nv ppl enrolled in the MMJ program.

now ive herd differant few friends told me decent cops let thier friends go who had cali rec's. that all depends on the cop and person envolved

 

[Campfire]

"You vill comply und you vill LIKE it!" (as we hear the billyclub go "thwack thwack" in Officer Friendly's meaty, scarred hands.)

 

[DoobieDuck]

Doobsters Research

Doobsters Research

I did some research into this company that astounded me. Here is some of what I found..The company has certainly done its work with keywords in their websites as almost everything I searched for sent me directly to their site or sites that were generated by them, then directed me to the Draeger websites offering company press releases and company generated information only. The majority of all the other sites I found quoted that information from the companies website and or press releases only. I could find very little indipendant info or research.

For example when Googling for Drug Test 5000 is approved by NHTSA I found that 7 out of the top 10 sites that came up were company generated or owned.

The best description of the device, its use, and the results of the test were found at this link:

http://www.icadts2007.org/print/164analyticalevaluation.pdf



The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States Department of Transportation published model specifications for Screening Devices to Measure Alcohol in Bodily Fluids at 59 FR 39382 (August 2, 1994). These specifications established performance criteria and methods for testing alcohol screening devices using either breath or bodily fluids, such as saliva to measure blood alcohol content. NHTSA established these specifications to support state laws and the Federal Department of Transportation's workplace alcohol testing program. The Department has elected to use the NHTSA criteria for approving devices for the prearrest testing of a person's breath to determine the alcohol content of the person's blood.

How did we get to where we are? This is from the NHTSA site:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/Traffic Injury Control/Articles/Associated Files/PilotTest_NRSM.pdf

Executive Summary
The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) worked with the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop and conduct a “Pilot Test of New Roadside
Survey Methodology for Impaired Driving.” This final report presents the results of the two
phases of the project:
(1) The feasibility study, in which the procedure to collect survey data and biological samples at
the roadside was developed and refined; and
(2) The pilot test, in which the developed procedure was tested in six States.
This study lays the groundwork for the next decennial national roadside survey of impaired
driving, which will estimate the incidence of alcohol- and drug-positive drivers on U.S. roads.

Information contained with-in this I found most interesting was:

“Yacoubian et al. (2001), tested 114 adult arrestees using saliva and urine and concluded that
saliva testing may have certain advantages over urine testing for drugs, including (1) ease of
sample collection, (2) subject preference for giving saliva over urine, (3) less vulnerability of
adulteration in saliva, (4) little concern for subjects producing an adequate sample with saliva,
and (5) saliva storage is easier than urine. The authors found a sensitivity of 100 percent and a
specificity1 of 99 percent for cocaine in saliva and a sensitivity of 88 percent and specificity of
100 percent for heroin. However, saliva results only had a sensitivity of 5 percent for marijuana likely reflecting only detection of very recent smoking, in that marijuana does not migrate from
the blood supply to the oral fluid. Thus, positives in oral fluid are an indication of residual
marijuana remaining in the mouth after ingestion. This may well be a positive factor for the
current study in that when marijuana is detected in saliva, it is more likely to be in its active
phase in the body rather than simply evidence the marijuana has been consumed during a lookback
period which may be as long as two weeks and may no longer have a potential impairing
effect.
Hold et al. (1999) conducted a review of the literature of using saliva for drug testing; the
review included 135 references and provided guidelines for techniques for collecting and
measuring drugs in saliva. In an earlier review of drugs of abuse found in saliva, Schramm et al.
(1992) concluded that initial studies with cocaine and phencyclidine suggested a correlation
between saliva and blood concentration, but that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) does not appear
to be transferred from blood to saliva. Recent marijuana smoking, however, can be detected in
saliva from the buccal cavity.2”

I’d like to offer my highlights of this, a 2009 report to congress. A very interesting read, I recommend.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811268.pdf

“16. Abstract
This report was prepared in accordance with Section 2013 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The report summarizes a series of studies undertaken by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to acquire the information needed to address the general problem of drug-impaired driving.
MEASURING DRIVER IMPAIRMENT
Congress requested that an assessment of methodologies and technologies for measuring driver impairment resulting from use of the most common illicit drugs (including the use of such drugs in combination with alcohol) be conducted. The measurement of driver impairment is challenging since driver performance is a product of manual, cognitive, and perceptive skills and the range of performance reflected in the normal driver population is large. Current knowledge about the effects of drugs other than alcohol is insufficient to allow the identification of dosage limits that are related to elevated crash risk. However, it is likely that better methods and technology to detect drug use by drivers would greatly facilitate the 6 enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication of existing drug-impaired-driving laws. With this in mind, the NHTSA conducted a study to look at current methods and technologies to detect drug use by drivers (Walden & the Texas Transportation Institute, 2008).
• Oral Fluid Testing — The collection of oral fluid is minimally invasive and effective in
detecting many types of drugs. The technology to rapidly, accurately, and reliably collect
oral fluid at the point of arrest is quickly evolving. Devices that collect oral fluid for
laboratory testing appear to be a reliable means of testing for recent drug use. Some
companies market self-contained test kits that can be used by law enforcement; however,
these point-of-arrest screening devices have not been proven to be accurate and reliable.

CURRENT STATE LAWS RELATING TO DRUG-IMPAIRED DRIVING
The NHTSA commissioned a review of each State statute regarding drug-impaired driving as of December 2008 (Walsh, 2009). The DUID statutes are generally found in the State Transportation Code or Title, or Motor Vehicle Code or Title. In only two States (Idaho and Texas) can the State’s DUID statutes be found in the penal or criminal codes.
There is a high degree of variability across the States in the way they approach drug-impaired driving. Current laws in many States contain provisions making it difficult to identify, prosecute, or convict drug-impaired drivers……
….Under implied consent provisions, most State laws stipulate the type of specimen that police officers are authorized to collect. Thirty-four States permit blood and/or urine; eight States allow for blood collection only; six States permit saliva…..”

My conclusions after reading this report are:
They admit over and over that they don’t have the statistics or records to evaluate this issue. They say “The report describes the research conducted on .. detection “ yet they only reveal this study related to detection “.. research into the accuracy of drug testing technology for law enforcement use
(Crouch, Walsh, Cangianelli, & Quintela, 2008; Hersch, Crouch, & Cook, 2000; Walsh & Cangianelli, 2009).

what testing instruments were used to do the saliva testing. A reliable saliva testing device, such as the Draeger, if that can be considered reliable, as far as I know, was not available at the time of the report as it was not certified by the NHSTA until 1900
They also claim “The report describes the research conducted on prevention, detection” yet I find no discussion of the detection research.


They did not report on what new testing devices and methods are available and how reliable those are.

NHTSA list that test saliva

www.nhtsa.gov.

About the Company

I found this information about the company at this site:

http://www.innovations-report.com/h...ting_drugs_abuse_draeger_drugtest_122749.html

Dräger is an international leader in the fields of medical and safety technology. Dräger products protect, support and save lives. Founded in 1889, in 2007 Dräger generated revenues of around EUR 1.8 billion. The Dräger Group employs around 10,000 people in more than 40 countries worldwide.

From:

http://nj.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac./SAC/NJ/2007/20070213_0000096.NJ.htm/qx

“National Draeger, Inc., the American subsidiary of Draegerwerk Aktiengesellschaft (Draeger AG), acquired Smith and Wesson, the breathalyzer's manufacturer, partially to gain access to the United State's market. Draeger AG was founded in 1887 in Luebeck, Germany.”

That site has a very long court case in which it appears to me their alcohol test unit was approved: “In 1993

NHTSA published the amended Model Specifications for Devices to Measure Breath Alcohol and an updated CPL to accommodate transportation workplace alcohol testing programs, to meet new zero tolerance laws for underage offenders, and to add testing for acetone interference. 58 Fed. Reg. 48705 (Sept. 17, 1993). The updated CPL listed the "Alcotest 7110." Ibid.”….. yet its dependability still was being disputed in this case involving its accuracy and reliability as late as 2007.

I came across another interesting twist in my research where the description for the link to the government website reveals

“Funded by NHTSA, Alcohol Countermeasure Systems Corp., Smart Start, Inc., and Draeger”
http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/811297.pdf

This appears to be a conference in which the NHTSA met with judges and discussed new techniques and devices such as Draegers 5000. That meerting, judges party, may have been in part funded by them. Just follow the money!

Here are some excerpts from that.

“NHTSA Judicial National Outreach Meeting held in 2008
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On August 19, 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hosted a Judicial Outreach meeting in Washington, DC, and included NHTSA’s Judicial Fellows, State and Regional Judicial Outreach Liaisons, and NHTSA headquarters and regional staff. The meeting provided an opportunity for participants to share ideas, success stories, and challenges with one another.

Jeff Michael of NHTSA discussed with meeting attendees the possibility of replicating a particular impaired-driving reduction strategy in use in New Mexico. Comprised of 30 to 40 senior-level State leaders, a standing committee on impaired driving meets monthly in New Mexico to identify gaps in the DWI system, pool resources, share experiences and strategies, and work together to solve issues identified by the group. The participants include members of both the Executive Branch of government and the Judiciary. Dr. Michael asked judges if they thought the judiciary in other States could be involved in leadership coordination activities of similar State impaired-driving committees.
The Judicial Fellows and Judicial Outreach Liaisons believe judges could play an important role in a committee like the one described by Dr. Michael. Judges could add value by sharing their insights about a State’s criminal justice system. In some States, judges could even lend credibility to these groups by assuming a leadership role (provided this is allowed ethically). It was noted that these committees could be even more powerful with the addition of legislative or high-level executive (i.e., Governor) support.

MEETING SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS
Dr. Michael thanked all meeting participants for their dedication and interest in traffic safety. He expressed his appreciation for their contributions to this gathering and for sharing their honest opinions. Judicial Fellows and Judicial Outreach Liaisons were reminded that they are the “eyes and ears” of the judiciary and that NHTSA relies on their input to direct agency efforts in support of the criminal justice system. “

I find it interesting that Dr. Michael admits the NHTSA relies on the input of Judicial Fellows and Judicial Outreach Liaisons. I think it is most admirable they work together as a group but with no inclusion of an independent source for the information they are considering they may be influenced by companies such as Draeger.

Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 47 / Thursday, March 11, 2010 / Notices

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-5242.pdf

From this site:

http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/full/55/11/1910
Drugs that are smoked, inhaled, insufflated, or taken orally also may contaminate the oral mucosa and OF, increasing detection, but reducing correlation with blood concentrations for 30–60 min. We observed that OF concentrations of 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) greatly exceeded plasma concentrations for approximately 30 min after cannabis smoking
Which is from Huestis MA, Cone EJ. Relationship of Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations in oral fluid and plasma after controlled administration of smoked cannabis. J Anal Toxicol 2004;28:394-399
Related http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15516285?dopt=Abstract

The above link has the most interesting studies on this topic.

Relationship of Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations in oral fluid and plasma after controlled administration of smoked cannabis. 2004
The current study demonstrates that THC is deposited in the oral cavity and remains for up to 24 h following cannabis smoking. The decline in THC oral fluid concentration over this time suggests that there may be bsorption of THC into blood as previously shown with pure THC. Passive cannabis exposure studies appear to indicate that positive oral fluid tests for THC can occur shortly after cannabis smoke exposure, but results were negative within 1 h. Consequently, when very recent passive exposure to cannabis smoke can be ruled out, it is concluded that a positive oral fluid test provides credible evidence of active cannabis use.

Evaluation of ten oral fluid point-of-collection drug-testing devices. 2007
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17389083?dopt=Abstract
“The devices still were not capable of detecting Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol at 4 ng/mL (SAMHSA). However, sensitivities improved since the initial studies, and approximately half of the devices met the THC-COOH cutoff proposed by SAMHSA. Results from the current and previous evaluations are presented in the paper and indicate that the sensitivity and performance of commercial OF drug testing devices is improving, but remains problematic for the reliable detection of cannabinoid use.”

 

[Maj.PotHead]

right on DD great post i'm unable to give ya rep i must spread some 1st

 

[Hydrosun]

The RGJ article is a dead link, anyone have a link to the story? Also why are these 10 machines in the Northern area of NV. Don't people in Las Vegas need to be harassed as well?

 

[itisme]

Who makes to MACHINE??? We should find out and make soure EVERYBODY KNOWS about these sorry pieces of societal trash!

If we don't legalize all drugs and the US continues down this hardline path of abusing its own countrymen/women then we will have a full revolt within 10 years, 5 or less if the economy stays in the shitter. If the dollar goes into hyperinflation our Government may be to stupid to recover!

 

[zen_trikester]

You guys are missing the silver lining here. If you want legalization of MJ this is a good thing. Remember the push from the No side at the end of the prop 19 debate last November? They said that with prop 19 school bus drivers and employees in general could get stoned right before work and nobody would be able to arrest them. That is because there is no commonly used test that shows intoxication and common tests show a huge window of use. For drugged driving the only real test that will ever work is a visual test. Very few experienced smokers have troubles driving wehn stoned, but it will take a few years of legal use and acurate testing before anyone will ever beleive us on that one!

This type of device is a good thing for the cause. this will protect employees from being fired for smoking up weeks ago, or from not getting insurance benefits because of an unrelated work accident simply because of a wiz quiz.

Now I don't know anything about this particular device yet but I will start reading more. The one I had been following for the last couple of years had been thye one being developed by Philips and Concateno using Philip's magnotech technology. That got shelved right around the time that the Cali initiative started to take form and I was always suspicious of that.

 

[zen_trikester]

Oh, and I don't understand why you guys are talking months here... canabinoids only stay in saliva for a few hours. Urine is weeks or months and blood is days or weeks. The reason for these devices being able to test for miniscule amounts is for them to more accurately show a time window. Nevanda is just using them as all or nothing and that is fine. when 25% of their citizens are in jail they will realize that it is pretty gay to have -0- tolerance. that won't last past the first few court cases!

 

[David762]

Violence is only the answer of last resort ...

Violence is only the answer of last resort ...

One problem, we are too nice and rational to just go killing tyrants and they know it. There are potentially millions of standalone assassins out there but we are not murders. I could not do it because I would be thinking about what an otherwise nice guy I was preparing to execute.

You'd have to be in imminent danger or crazy, and very few of us are either.

I think we do need to shut down cities and government with millions of protesters but we have no rallying cry, we are too content. We also don't feel comfortable with our right to assemble peaceably since what we do is illegal. We need a sort of distributed denial of service movement with bodies flooding into the major cities and shutting down key bastions of our opponents.

Violence is only the answer of last resort ... at least for the peons. Unfortunately, our Police State has become well accustomed to violence against us peons as their first choice. Just look at the number of us unarmed and nonviolent peons who have been shot and killed in our homes or on the streets by trigger-happy LEOs. And then these LEOs get a free pass for their unjustified violence.

And unless you have been comfortably numb for the past 20+ years, you might have noticed that we peons' right to assemble in public has been seriously curtailed. We now have cordoned-off free speech zones, undercover LEOs that incite and commit acts of violence to discredit peaceful assembly, and even LEOs surveilling protest groups to arrest activists before they ever assemble. And when peaceful protests do occur, the corporate-owned news media often don't cover these events or else misconstrue the protestors intent.

When "our" Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske publicly states that the War on Drugs is not a war on people, he is lying. It has always been a war on people. The Prohibition of Marihuana began as a war against persons of color -- the blacks and hispanics that were getting high and assaulting the purity of their white womenfolk -- the basis of their "reefer madness" propaganda campaign. Felony convictions for marihuana always targeted minorities far beyond their percentage of the population, and usually included disenfranchisement -- taking away the right of those convicted to ever vote again. The rise of private prisons in the USA turned convicts into slave labor. Specially created drug courts channel non-violent drug offenders into private for-profit treatment centers. Both criminal and civil asset forfeiture statutes have turned we peons into instant Automated Teller Machines, regardless of guilt or innocence -- merely being charged drops the peons targeted into the system. The Drug War is a war on people, and has evolved into a far more efficient tool of the Police State than ever initially conceived, but if the peons don't fight back in some way is it really a war?