Marijuana-smoking volunteers needed

Free marijuana is being offered to anyone participating in an investigation that is taking place in the United States. Want to sign up?

Researchers at Washington State University are looking for volunteers for a study to develop a type of breathalyser that detects the amount of cannabis consumed. The work of the volunteers will be solely and exclusively the smoking of marijuana, to later undergo tests.

Of course, the objective of the research may not appeal to regular weed consumers and lovers. Scientists in charge of the study want to use new technologies to reduce the number of people driving under the effects of cannabis. The test would mean that people who have more than 5 nanograms of active tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their blood could be quickly and effectively charged with driving under the influence in  Washington State.

Participants must be over 21, the minimum age for legal cannabis use in the US. Volunteers will begin with preliminary blood and saliva tests. They will be the ones in charge of buying the – subsidized – marijuana in a licensed dispensary of their choice, and they will have to consume it in their home.

To avoid precisely the problem that this research is intending to stop – driving under the influence of cannabis – several taxis will be in charge of picking the participants up from their homes and taking them to the hospital to carry out the secondary tests. In addition, volunteers can participate in a third standard sobriety test.

If the investigation goes according to plan, an unprecedented tool will be obtained, which will help the authorities to get quick results to determine which users are driving under the effects of marijuana.

According to Nathan Weller, a Pullman (Washington) councilman and a research assistant, “marijuana industry companies are the first ones interested in enforcing the law in the states in which it has been legalised”.

Still want to sign up?