美国国家公共电台 NPR Can Sobriety Tests Weed Out Drivers Who've Smoked Too Much Weed?

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: 

The highest court in the state of Massachusetts is considering roadside sobriety tests, specifically whether the tests that police use to determine drunk driving can also prove a driver is high on marijuana. As NPR's Tovia Smith reports, with more states like Massachusetts legalizing recreational marijuana, this question is becoming more pressing.

TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE¹: The test has been used for decades to convict drunk drivers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Go ahead and step out here in front of my car, please.

SMITH: Just like in this stop recorded by police in Tennessee, a driver has to stand on one leg, walk a straight line and recite the alphabet.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Q - R - S - W - T - S - T - U - V - W - H - Y - Z.

SMITH: The officer can then testify in court how the driver did to make the case for DUI, but defense² lawyers argue science has yet to prove that flunking³ the test really means a person is high. So as attorney Rebecca Jacobstien argued to Massachusetts' high court, the tests shouldn't be allowed in evidence.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REBECCA JACOBSTIEN: If there's reliable science, reliable science gets to come in, it's just that unreliable science does not.

MICHELLE KING: Your Honor, that is clearly wrong.

SMITH: Attorney Michelle King - for the prosecutors⁴ - argued that rapidly advancing science does now prove field tests' reliability⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KING: Three investigations⁶ have come to light, and those are the most important for Your Honors to look at at this point.

SMITH: What makes the stakes so high here is that police do not yet have reliable roadside toxicology tests to say for sure if someone's too high to drive the way a breathalyzer or blood tests can show if someone's too drunk.

MARGARET HANEY: It's complicated. Alcohol is a breeze in comparison.

SMITH: Margaret Haney is a professor of neurobiology at the Columbia University Medical Center. Because marijuana is fat soluble⁷, traces of its main ingredient - THC - can show up in blood, for example, long after a person has sobered up.

HANEY: That just tells you that somebody smoked, but you don't know if they smoked, you know, an hour before or if they smoked a week before or two weeks before.

SMITH: It used to be that police could always fall back on arresting a driver for possession, but with pot now legal, officers worry they'll be faced with more stoned drivers and fewer ways to stop them.

JOHN CARMICHAEL: It couldn't be at a worse time. It's really going to cause a problem out on the street.

SMITH: John Carmichael is police chief in Walpole, Mass.

CARMICHAEL: I mean, police officers know, you know, when there's something off, it's usually quite obvious. So if they take away the ability to do a field sobriety test, I don't know what the police officer on the street is supposed to do.

SMITH: As studies continue on standard field sobriety tests, efforts are also underway to design new ones to better weed out drivers high on weed.

MICHAEL MILBURN: So you can see it's a real app there.

SMITH: University of Massachusetts psychology⁸ professor Michael Milburn has invented an iPad test he calls DRUID that specifically measures symptoms of marijuana intoxication⁹ like slow reaction time, misperception of time passing and the inability to multitask.

MILBURN: So this says when the circle flashes on the screen, hit the screen where that - where you saw the circle appear. If the square appears, hit the white oval that's going to be on the top of the screen.

SMITH: OK. God help me.

It is not meant to be easy.

MILBURN: Right. 'Cause I figure someone who's stoned is going to go, all right, was it the circle or the square? (Laughter) You know...

SMITH: This is not your grandfather's old count backwards¹⁰ from 10.

MILBURN: (Laughter) Yeah. Well, if you're going to be driving a car, you should be able to perform at a fairly high level.

SMITH: Next, you have to balance on one foot while you hold the iPad in one hand...

Oh, my God.

...Where it records your every wobble.

I'm holding my microphone too, do I get extra points for that?

(LAUGHTER)

SMITH: After four different tests, instead of a police officer's subjective¹¹ judgment¹² of how you did, the iPad calculates a total score that could be used like the .08 legal limit for alcohol.

So I have...

MILBURN: Your impairment score was 48, which we'd estimate was equivalent to a blood alcohol of .06, so you are not legally drunk.

SMITH: But almost.

MILBURN: Well, you were getting up that there, yeah, yeah, yeah, but a cop would not say I'm taking you in based on what you just did.

SMITH: Milburn says research is just beginning on the reliability of his app. Experts say it won't be long before science validates¹³ a whole new generation of impairment tests, but they say they'll only stand up to court challenges when used in conjunction with new and better biological tests that can also prove that the person who was impaired¹⁴ recently used marijuana. Tovia Smith, NPR News, Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVID BYRNE AND ST. VINCENT SONG, "WHO")

1 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。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 flunking   

v.( flunk的现在分词 )；（使）（考试、某学科的成绩等）不及格；评定（某人）不及格；（因不及格而） 退学

参考例句：

• Is there some school of the ear I'm flunking out off right now? 我是不是被什么听力学校淘汰了？ 来自电影对白
• Twelve freshman footballers were flunking classes and had to leave. 当时有12名高中一年级的美式足球（即橄榄球）队员没有通过考试而不得不离开。 来自互联网

4 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

5 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

6 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

7 soluble   

adj.可溶的；可以解决的

参考例句：

• These tablets are soluble in water.这些药片可在水中溶解。
• Camphor is soluble in alcohol.樟脑在酒精中可以溶化。

8 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

9 intoxication   

n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning

参考例句：

• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。
• Predator: Intoxication-Damage over time effect will now stack with other allies. Predator:Intoxication,持续性伤害的效果将会与队友相加。

10 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

11 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

12 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

13 validates   

v.证实( validate的第三人称单数 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• Other research validates that when it comes to chocolate, type does matter. 其他的研究也证实了不同种类的巧克力确实功效不同。 来自互联网
• Trouble shoots equipment, review and validates data and complete reports. 管理错误描述设备，审查并确认试验数据，完成试验报告。 来自互联网

14 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》