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S M A L L  TECHNOLOGIES              W I T H          Pot Breathalyzers
             BIG VALUE                                               is stoned is about to get a lot easier, thanks
                                                                     Determining whether or not an employee


                                                                     to a new device that’s a lot like an alcohol
                                                                     breathalyzer. Given the dramatic expansion
                                                                     of legalized recreational and medicinal mari­
                                                                     juana across the country, when the technol­          Courtesy of Hound Labs
              THE NEW, THE OLD & THE NOTEWORTHY                      ogy  is  released  (anticipated  for  mid­2019),
              Deliver on the Guest Experience & Overall Safety       it won’t be a minute too soon.
                                                                         Employers in the 33 states with some form of legal mari­
                                                                     juana are scrambling on how best to approach drug testing
                                                                     programs for injuries in the workplace. And the ski industry
                                                                     is especially challenged with this issue, given that ski states
                                                                     have been at the forefront of marijuana legalization: California
                                                                     was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana in 1996, and
                                                                     Colorado and Washington were the first states to approve full
                                                                     recreational marijuana in 2012. Of the 10 states with legal
                                                                     recreational marijuana, and the 33 states with either medicinal
                                                                     or recreational marijuana, 90 percent of all skier visits occur
                                                                     in the 33 states that have some form of legalized marijuana.
                                                                         Whether due to driving while stoned, or working while
                                                                     under the influence of marijuana, drug testing has now become
                                                                     dramatically more important for law enforcement and employers.
                                                                     And the laws and regulations for drug testing are not remotely
                                                                     keeping up with the rapid pace of pot legalization. Most states
                                                                     have some form of mechanism or regulation that allows workers’
                                                                     compensation providers to cut medical and other benefits if
                                                                     drugs or alcohol are involved in workplace injuries. In Colorado
                                                                     alone, an injured employee’s worker comp benefits can be cut
                                                                     by 50 percent if drugs or alcohol are involved. As a result,
                                                                     the incidence of drug testing is overwhelming employers
                                                                     everywhere, even in states with no pot legalization. In fact,
                                                                     the three largest ski states without any legal marijuana—
                                                                     Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Idaho—all border states where
                  eeping up with all the technological innovations and   the drug is legal recreationally, making access to pot easy.
                  gadgets that emerge on any given day is like trying    In the past, for on­site drug testing, employers have used
              Kto keep snow from melting in June: virtually impossible.   everything from saliva mouth swabs to urine tests, or more
              Which is why it’s great when ski areas can learn from each   invasive blood testing. But while such tests can indicate the
              other about ways of using new technology—or even tech-  presence of marijuana in one’s body (sometimes for weeks
                                                                     afterwards), they do not correlate to gauging real­time true
              nology that’s been around awhile but has a relatively new    impairment. Given that marijuana has only been effectively
              application—to simplify operations, increase overall safety,   legalized for a handful of years, and still illegal at the federal
              save money, and enhance guest services.                level, there is a dearth of research on the best way to measure
                  Following are some of these applications. We plan to   true impairment from pot use. But no states have been able to
              highlight more of them in future issues, so let us know   develop legal impairment standards for driving or workplace
              about unique, noteworthy uses of technology and other   safety beyond THC presence. Most states have zero tolerance
                                                                     of any THC presence for driving laws; Colorado, Washington,
              smart ways of doing things at your area so we can share   and Montana have a legal limit of five nanograms of THC
              them with others in the industry.                      per milliliter of blood for driving under the influence laws.



              28  |  NSAA JOURNAL  |  WINTER 2019
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