Police testing new roadside drug tests
Look at the list of drugs below that this saliva test can test for.. according to this report 40% of people killed on the highway HAVE DRUGS IN THEIR SYSTEM…. 22% of all drivers tested HAD DRUGS IN THEIR SYSTEM.. NINE of the TWELVE drugs listed below can be LEGALLY PRESCRIBED/TAKEN and the test apparently tests for the PRESENCE OF THESE DRUGS IN A PERSON’S SYSTEM..
Just how many chronic pain pts could actually pass a road side agility/sobriety test given their pain and neuro/muscular/skeleton problems. I can see most unable to walk a straight line, stand on one foot… finger to touch tip of nose… might be doable.. if their pain doesn’t hinder them.
IMO.. we are not just approaching a slippery slope, we are on the cusp of a grazed/iced over steep downhill grade. If we are going to arrest or send anyone to a hospital for further testing based on any quantity of legal drugs in a person’s system… Then we need to lower the illegal BAL to anything above ZERO… or lets go back to the 18th Amendment and make the sales of alcohol ILLEGAL again… or just repeal the 21st Amendment.
http://www.wtvq.com/2015/10/14/police-testing-new-roadside-drug-tests/
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Some police departments in Kentucky are trying a new device to try and prove if a driver is high behind the wheel and help combat the growing trend of drugged driving.
The numbers of drugged drivers is alarming. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 40% of all drivers killed has drugs in their system. The NHTSA also did a roadside survey that showed 22% of all drivers tested positive for drugs.
To help prosecute drugged drivers in the state, Kentucky’s Office of Highway Safety is partnering with authorities in Louisville, Paducah and Madison County to test portable kits that police officers could eventually carry into the field to test drivers for controlled substances.
The kits use a suspect’s saliva to test a panel of 10 different drugs that are most commonly used in Kentucky.
If the tests prove reliable, lawmakers say they will consider legislation next year to expand their use.
According to Kentucky State Police, authorities suspected that drugs were a factor in nearly 1,600 traffic collisions across the state last year, resulting in 939 injuries and 214 deaths.
Drug Name Symbol Negative Positive Not Tested
Alcohol ALC ❑ ❑ ❑
Amphetamine AMP ❑ ❑ ❑
Buprenorphine BUP ❑ ❑ ❑
Benzodiazepine BZO ❑ ❑ ❑
Cocaine COC ❑ ❑ ❑
EDDP EDDP ❑ ❑ ❑ Methadone metabolite
Marijuana THC ❑ ❑ ❑
Methadone MTD ❑ ❑ ❑
Methamphetamine MET ❑ ❑ ❑
Opiates OPI ❑ ❑ ❑
Oxycodone OXY ❑ ❑ ❑
Phencyclidine PCP ❑ ❑ ❑ PCP
Filed under: General Problems
Cold medicines containing sudafed will show up a as a amphetamine. Saliva tests in general are not reliable nor are they correct 100% of the time. Now that brings us to the roadside test… Where the cop will have the right to detain u just for his suspicions that are under the influence of drugs. So how does the cop know what drugs he finds on the test are legally prescribed or not? Just trust u at your word?UHHHM… Not!!!!
Then what about false positives? What about all the time and money it will take to actually investigate this, not to mention the strain this would put on the individual’s life and job and family… And possibly have his career ended based on one roadside drug test that may or may not be accurate!
Maybe he had a cold that day and took some sudafed but tested positive for an amphetamine on a cheap little saliva test. Is it really fair to expect all people to give up their right to drive and earn a living based off of one very broad and highly innacurate roadside drug test?
It’s ridiculous… And I just hope the government is ready for all the lawsuits coming their way if this gets implemented. Lawsuits for slander, for unlawfully detaining a citizen, and for emotional harm and wages lost due to the lengthy legal processes and battles that always accompanies drug charges.
This was a well thought out plan ‘Murica….
Unfortunately the agents of the State enjoy a long established precedent of qualified immunity. I’m not saying that I disagree with you, so don’t take this in the wrong way when I say good luck with those law suits. Ultimately it’s the State who decides if one of the mundanes like us can sue the State or the brethren of its uniformed punitive priesthood.
Well they better make lots.of room in juvenile detention for all.the kids that will test positive for amphetamines because of their legit extended release ADHD meds for the day before they leave for school. This idea is so full.of holes it’s insane!!!
It will be awfully expensive to provide health care for the disabled while in jail. And this could backfire on them, as there are plenty of disabled people who can’t afford prescription medications, so why not get them in jail? If you have cancer, do you get cancer medications in jail?
Will law enforcement be drug testing mainly young drivers or will they be picking on seniors, too? Or just black people?
I will bet they will start with the handicapped plates
Don’t give them any ideas. 🙂
My suggestion that everyone requests a supervisor be called to the traffic stop.. the supervisors will start getting pissed and telling officers to back off all but the most obvious. I think that I am going to attach the name, office phone, cell phone and email of my attorney to my registration. Then pull out my Iphone and start videoing the interaction. Subtle demonstration that you know your rights and document what they did/done. As long as they do their job… and not over step their boundaries… no one will get hurt…
hello Most jail systems give VERY minimal health care for disabled.
Are there some people who may believe that VERY minimal care in jail is better than no care at all in the “free” world? It’s called desperation.
If you need a test such as this to determine if a person has used drugs, then the obvious conclusion can only be that the concentrations of said drugs is to low to even matter.
Benzodiazepines like Valium can stay in the system a pretty long time. It depends on how much you take and for how long. Also your health, age, weight and metabolic rate play a part.
How long a drug stays in your system depends mainly on it’s elimination half life.
For Valium (diazepam) the initial distribution phase is followed by a prolonged terminal elimination phase (half-life up to 48 hours). The terminal elimination half-life of the active metabolite N-desmethyldiazepam is, on average, 100 hours.
So you would actually have to account for the elimination of N-desmethyldiazepam.
It takes 5.5 x elimination half lives (hours) for a medicine to be cleared from your system, therefore Valium or it’s active metabolite will be in your system for 550 hours (5.5 x 100hrs) i.e. approximately 23 days. I’m not sure how the saliva test will factors into this but in my opinion this is going too far.
What are the action levels? The ability to detect the presence of a drug is not the same as determining the the amount present. Even if the amount is quantifiable, at what quantity does the subject become impaired? Does this assay offer proof against false positives, e.g., does Sudafed trip a false positive for amphetamine?