Indiana Company Formed to Improve Marijuana Detection - Newsroom - Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick
Two Purdue University researchers have joined with a northern Indiana biotechnology firm to launch a company to improve marijuana’s detection in a person’s system.

Intelimmune LLC will focus on developing a more reliable and accurate diagnostic tool for detecting the presence of tetrehydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, said Fred Regnier, Purdue’s John H. Law Distinguished Professor Analytical Chemistry.

Jiri Adamec, research assistant professor at Bindley, said the current test for THC is based on unstable antibodies and fraught with problems. Intelimmune researchers hope to devise a process that’s much more precise and reliable.

“Law enforcement can use breathalyzers to determine whether a person is above the legal limit for alcohol use, and saliva is used to detect the presence of marijuana, or THC, in a person’s system, but that test isn’t reliable,” Adamec said. “We look to deliver a proven process that will vastly improve on the present-day test for marijuana.”

Adamec, who will serve as a technical officer for Intelimmune, said the process being developed by the company also is a saliva test, but it will not use protein-based antibodies. Instead, he said, it will employ a process known as “molecular imprinting,” in which an artificial antibody is used to capture THC. Results from this process also would be available in about five minutes, which is comparable to existing diagnostic tools.

For me, this is one sticky issue to cover.  NORML always has called for the responsible use of marijuana by adults, and most certainly driving while impaired by cannabis is not responsible use.  NORML has also opposed marijuana drug testing for impairment because testing for metabolites only proves prior use, not current intoxication.

However, from a political standpoint, a marijuana test that does accurately measure current intoxication presents some advantage.  It might be easier to win votes for marijuana decriminalization or taxation and regulation if the public felt safer because there was an accurate way to catch DUIs.

The problems I see are these - setting a baseline “legal limit” on THC that would have nothing to do with impairment.  What if you’ve smoked, waited two hours, then drove, but tested positive?  Were you impaired?

I guess the same argument could be made for alcohol - some people at .08 are truly wrecks waiting to happen, but an alcoholic with a tolerance can drive quite functionally at .20.  As a society, though, we set .08 (in most places) as the limit, figuring enough people would be wasted at that point to justify the limit.

Where do you set that limit with weed, especially considering that many studies show marijuana-intoxicated drivers to be safer than alcohol-intoxicated drivers?  And what about medical marijuana patients?  Are we condemning them to life without driving privileges?

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-06-12

I’m just about caught up on all the media processing.  Check out the National NORML YouTube Page and you can see all the videos I’ve been uploading from the Aspen Legal Seminar.  Also, check out the Aspen Legal Seminar Archive I’ve put together.  I’ll be adding more audio, video, and photos as I process them.

Today I’m giving you a two-part presentation from Paul Armentano’s seminar on the latest DUID laws and the studies on cannabis and driving.  Yes, they really want to take your license even if you never drive stoned.

Plus we’ve got some good new rock and roll from Skracht Apple, and a new segment on the Stash - Stupid Stoner Stories.  I hope you enjoy, and take it as it’s meant - we’ve got to hold ourselves up to a, ahem, higher standard.  That means no dope in court!

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-05-19

It’s Monday, May 19th, and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville.

Don’t forget to your Congress at 202-224-3121, and tell your representative to support Barney Frank’s HR5843 bill that would legalize marijuana for personal use. Ending prohibition starts with you!

For our Political Activism day today, I’ve just got to tell you about my Sunday at the Waterfront in Portland, where me and 75,000 of my friends gathered to hear Senator Barack Obama. Check out the pictures, map, and video on my personal blog at RadicalRuss.com. It’s exhilarating to feel so many people gathered for political change and awareness, and it’s my goal to bring that wave of change toward ending adult marijuana prohibition. It’s time for a change and it starts with you.

Today we start our Political Activism day halfway around the world to New Zealand, where we spoke with New Zealand NORML’s Chris Fowlie about their Global Marijuana March, or as they call it, “J-Day”.

For our musical break on Blues Monday we’ve got Julian Fauth, a contemporary bluesman from Toronto, Canada. Cannabis Karri picked out “Roll on In” – is it a tribute to great joint rollers? Stay tuned and find out. (If it is, it ain’t about me. I’m a lousy joint roller.)

To conclude our Stash we welcome back new NORML Dad, Deputy Director Paul Armentano. Our international flavor continues as Paul breaks down research from Israel comparing the driving effects of mild doses of cannabis vs. alcohol on drivers.

We’ve also got another great NORML Pass the Stash contest. This time you could win the uncensored DVD of “Totally Baked”, written by Craig Shoemaker (a guest on the Stash). Bonus for you Stashers: it’s autographed by the Executive Producer, Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC! No joke, there are even three brand new Brian Johnson songs on the DVD. Listen for details later in the podcast on how you can win.

And remember, if you are a business or non-profit who’d like your message heard on the Daily Audio Stash or the NORML Weekly News, you can advertise with us. We have rates for every budget and a 10% discount for non-profits. Just send us an email at stash ‘at’ norml.org and we’ll have you on the air in no time.

So sit back and relax with a good friend and your favorite strain, it’s time for your NORML Daily Audio Stash.

I have a cousin back in Idaho who likes to send to me those forwarded chain e-mails.  I hate ‘em; they’re the worst form of spam, because they come from someone you know, so you open them, then there are fifteen levels of recursively-indented forwards, the “to” list containing a billion-and-a-half names, and usually by the time I’ve scrolled down to see what was so important, it’s a picture of a puppy or a stupid joke.

But I still answer her, because often she’s forwarded me something hateful or just plain wrong, and I can’t resist setting the record straight.  (For example, she sent me the “Barack Obama… Muslim?” email that’s been debunked a million times.)

Her latest forward was a series of pictures showing how a vibrant young girl’s life was tragically altered when a 17-year-old drunk driver ran into her car.  She was burned over 90% of her body, and the tagline to her picture is “Not everyone who is hit by a drunk driver dies.”

One of the points we make over and over at NORML and on The Stash is about how we are an invisible minority.  If the 90,000,000 people who have smoked marijuana in America at least once suddenly had green skin, you can bet all the laws that discriminate against green people would be changed.  But since we’re all too scared (rightfully so, in many aspects) to “come out of the closet”, we can’t affect any real change.

So one thing you can do is Never Miss An Opportunity to educate someone about marijuana policy, or at least get them to thinking about it.  Below the jump is my reply to my cousin demonstrating this “rhetorical jiu-jitsu”:

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