美国国家公共电台 NPR The Pot Breathalyzer Is Here. Maybe

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Police across the country are growing concerned about stoned drivers behind the wheel. Thirty states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana. Nine of those, plus the District, have legalized recreational pot. One California company now says it's made a major breakthrough in creating what some thought of as a kind of unicorn¹ - a marijuana breathalyzer. NPR's Eric Westervelt has our story.

ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE²: In his downtown Oakland office, Mike Lynn holds his creation in the palm of his hand. It's a device about the size of a large mobile phone with a small, plastic tube and a slot for a cartridge³.

MIKE LYNN: This is a disposable cartridge. And there's a whole bunch of science in this cartridge but...

WESTERVELT: Lynn is not some pipe dream stoner inventor. The entrepreneur is also a practicing E.R. trauma⁴ doctor and an active SWAT team medic. He's seen firsthand the sometimes devastating⁵ impact of drunk and drugged drivers. The CEO of Hound Labs, the scientific device company he founded, slips a new cartridge into the pot breathalyzer and starts to blow.

LYNN: All right. Here we go.

WESTERVELT: Indicator⁶ bars show whether the machine detects any THC, the psychoactive component⁷ in pot. Tools now on the market to determine marijuana use test blood, saliva⁸ or urine. But those devices can take days for a result. And they can't tell whether a person has smoked a half hour ago or eight days ago. THC dissolves in fat, so it can stay in your body up to a month after use. But Dr. Lynn says his company's device detects whether someone has smoked pot in the last two hours, what's considered the peak impairment window. It accurately⁹ does that, he says, by measuring the mere¹⁰ presence of THC molecules¹¹ in parts per trillion in your breath.

LYNN: And that's in contrast to alcohol, which is parts per thousand. THC is something like a billion times less concentrated than alcohol. That's why it hasn't been done before because it really is hard.

WESTERVELT: The company hopes to have the breathalyzer ready for sale by early next year. A handful of police departments, including Boston, plan to work with Hound Labs to test the device starting this fall.

LYNN: For law enforcement, their issue is trying to figure out who's potentially impaired¹² versus¹³, hey, who's somebody who smoked maybe yesterday and is not impaired. They're interested in it providing objective data for them at the roadside.

WESTERVELT: Just like they have for alcohol. But a big problem - there's still no scientific or legal consensus¹⁴ on what amount of THC equals functional¹⁵ impairment. That matters to the courts. Only seven states have set basic legal guidelines as to how much THC in the system makes you dangerous behind the wheel.

At Harvest, a stylish¹⁶ dispensary in San Francisco's Mission District, David Downs does some market research.

DAVID DOWNS: Romo (ph), which is really scrumptious.

WESTERVELT: The California bureau chief for the cannabis news site Leafly has his nose in a jar of Indica-dominant hybrid¹⁷ buds.

DOWNS: Very, very complex - it has notes of purple and grape underneath¹⁸ it and pepper. And it can be very multi-dimensional. And so...

WESTERVELT: Downs, an expert who's written four books on marijuana, says many in the industry would like to see more states where pot is legal try to settle on a science-based cut-off limit for THC level impairment.

DOWNS: That would eliminate a major roadblock to, like, further acceptance and normalization¹⁹ and sort of mainstreaming of cannabis as a consumer product. By far, the biggest criticism that's raised as these reform efforts advance is the issue around driving.

WESTERVELT: Studies since legalization on marijuana and driving have been mixed. One at Columbia University showed that half of young drivers age 16 to 25 who died in car crashes were under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or both. But exactly what role THC played in those crashes is unclear, says epidemiologist Guohua Li, who conducted that study.

GUOHUA LI: We need more research to establish the dose-response relationship between THC level and crash risk.

WESTERVELT: Another study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that while marijuana users are more likely to be involved in crashes, that risk may be in part because pot users are also more likely to be young men - a group already at high risk for car wrecks²⁰. Eric Westervelt, NPR News, San Francisco.

1 unicorn   

n.(传说中的)独角兽

参考例句：

• The unicorn is an imaginary beast.独角兽是幻想出来的动物。
• I believe unicorn was once living in the world.我相信独角兽曾经生活在这个世界。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 cartridge   

n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子

参考例句：

• Unfortunately the 2G cartridge design is very difficult to set accurately.不幸地2G弹药筒设计非常难正确地设定。
• This rifle only holds one cartridge.这支来复枪只能装一发子弹。

4 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

6 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

7 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

8 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

9 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

10 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

11 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

12 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

14 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

15 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

16 stylish   

adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的

参考例句：

• He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
• What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。

17 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

18 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

19 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

20 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句