5 ms·

Further - who is obligated to know that the testing field kits are inaccurate? Can police purchase marijuana dowsing rods and legally use those as probable caus

by eric_h 11y ago

Further - who is obligated to know that the testing field kits are inaccurate? Can police purchase marijuana dowsing rods and legally use those as probable cause for a search/SWAT raid? It seems to me that the rate of false positives would be roughly equivalent given the numbers stated in the article.

sitkack 11y ago
> marijuana dowsing rods this is a great idea.
- eric_h 11y ago
  Sounds like a great public benefit corp. Sell LEOs marijuana dowsing rods, donate all proceeds to something like the ACLU, then submit the names of all purchasers to review for dismissal/defunding.
  - DiabloD3 11y ago
    Pretty sure that's fraud AND entrapment.
    - emp_zealoth 11y ago
      So standard police practice, isnt it?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- capnrefsmmat 11y ago
  Such a device already exists, and has been sold to many countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 > The device has been sold to 20 countries in the Middle East and Far East, including Iraq and Afghanistan, for as much as US$60,000 each. The Iraqi government is said to have spent £52 million on the devices. > Investigations by the BBC and other organisations found that the device is little more than a "glorified dowsing rod" with no ability to perform its claimed functions. In January 2010, export of the device was banned by the British government and the managing director of ATSC was arrested on suspicion of fraud, and in June 2010, several other companies were raided by British police. ATSC was dissolved on 5 March 2013. On 23 April 2013, the founder of ATSC, Jim McCormick, was convicted of three counts of fraud at the Old Bailey in London, and was subsequently sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.
  - trhway 11y ago
    man, thank you, it is pure gold, you just can't make it up : >According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: "If we are tense, the device doesn't work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind."[10] The cards were supposedly "programmed" or "activated" by being placed in a jar for a week along with a sample of the target substance to absorb the substance's "vapours". Initially, McCormick reportedly used his own blood to "program" the cards for detecting human tissue, but eventually gave up even the pretense of "programming" them when demand for the devices was at its peak.[11] ... >The ADE 651 is a descendant of the Quadro Tracker Positive Molecular Locator produced in the 1990s by Wade Quattlebaum, a South Carolina car dealer, commercial diver, and treasure hunter.
EliRivers 11y ago
"marijuana dowsing rods" are effectively the drug dogs often used to get "probable cause" to search someone's car without a warrant or any actual probable cause. They're effectively trained to give a positive return on whatever car the police point them at, to get around whichever amendment it is that law-enforcement in the US basically like to use to wipe their ass on.

by eric_h 11y ago

sitkack 11y ago

> marijuana dowsing rods this is a great idea.

eric_h 11y ago
Sounds like a great public benefit corp. Sell LEOs marijuana dowsing rods, donate all proceeds to something like the ACLU, then submit the names of all purchasers to review for dismissal/defunding.
- DiabloD3 11y ago
  Pretty sure that's fraud AND entrapment.
  - emp_zealoth 11y ago
    So standard police practice, isnt it?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
capnrefsmmat 11y ago
Such a device already exists, and has been sold to many countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 > The device has been sold to 20 countries in the Middle East and Far East, including Iraq and Afghanistan, for as much as US$60,000 each. The Iraqi government is said to have spent £52 million on the devices. > Investigations by the BBC and other organisations found that the device is little more than a "glorified dowsing rod" with no ability to perform its claimed functions. In January 2010, export of the device was banned by the British government and the managing director of ATSC was arrested on suspicion of fraud, and in June 2010, several other companies were raided by British police. ATSC was dissolved on 5 March 2013. On 23 April 2013, the founder of ATSC, Jim McCormick, was convicted of three counts of fraud at the Old Bailey in London, and was subsequently sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.
- trhway 11y ago
  man, thank you, it is pure gold, you just can't make it up : >According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: "If we are tense, the device doesn't work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind."[10] The cards were supposedly "programmed" or "activated" by being placed in a jar for a week along with a sample of the target substance to absorb the substance's "vapours". Initially, McCormick reportedly used his own blood to "program" the cards for detecting human tissue, but eventually gave up even the pretense of "programming" them when demand for the devices was at its peak.[11] ... >The ADE 651 is a descendant of the Quadro Tracker Positive Molecular Locator produced in the 1990s by Wade Quattlebaum, a South Carolina car dealer, commercial diver, and treasure hunter.

EliRivers 11y ago

"marijuana dowsing rods" are effectively the drug dogs often used to get "probable cause" to search someone's car without a warrant or any actual probable cause. They're effectively trained to give a positive return on whatever car the police point them at, to get around whichever amendment it is that law-enforcement in the US basically like to use to wipe their ass on.