anyone hear of a SCRAM bracelet?

[commander bunnypants]

24 hour alcohol monitor. Works on the sweat glands.

I dunno, Infrigment on civil liberties.


CB

[NMDemDist2]

1. I have heard of those to enforce probation requirements of someone in the court system

It's pretty draconian IMO but I dunno if it's an infringement on civil liberties if used with in the framework of someone who is already in the judicial system.

We had the Detention Officers show up a couple weeks ago at our Alano Club since one of their ankle monitor clients had been down there most of the morning playing dominoes with us. It was a violation of his 'house arrest' I guess

:shrug:

[ismnotwasm]

2. No, actually

It sounds kind of messed up. Unless part of your court deal is no alcohol at all maybe. There are folks who commit violent acts only when drunk, or drive drunk all the time. Still that sounds a bit unnerving.

Up here where I live, certain of the homeless alcoholics can get into housing where they can drink If they want to. They have to follow house rules of non-violence and such, and there was a news report that "the program seems to be working" whatever that means.

I like the alcohol level meter thingies on cars though. I had a friend with one on her motorcycle. She liked it too, believe or not. It added a bit of security for her when she needed it. She was glad when she got rid of it too, of course.

[KitchenWitch]

3. EEEK

I hate when technology eclipses the ethics that need to be in place to use said technology.

I suppose, for some court systems, this might work better than the random urinalysis.

[FloridaJudy]

4. Another product rushed to market

Without adequate testing. It may be useful, but I'd like to see a whole lot more research - particularly in peer-reviewed journals - before I'd trust it.

http://www.1800duilaws.com/article/alcohol_monitoring_ankle_bracelets.asp

I'm a bit skeptical because I've been badly burned. Over a year into a monitoring program that demanded absolute abstinence from alcohol and drugs, I flunked a test called the EtG (ethylglucuronide) that was supposed to be proof positive of alcohol abuse. I didn't drink. No one believed me, and I wound up losing my job, my house and my nursing license. Further testing has found that the EtG is overly sensitive, turning positive in response to exposure to minuscule amounts of alcohol in such things as cleaning products, cosmetics, gasoline, food additives, etc. I'm now part of a massive class action law suit against the laboratories that made scientifically indefensible claims about the accuracy of the test.

The claims for the reliability of the SCRAM anklet also don't seem to backed up by legitimate clinical research.

No thanks.