One for the road: Breakthrough claimed with pot-booze breathalyzer

Lifeloc Technologies

02/12/2015 13:07

By Natalie Grover 
    Dec 2 (Reuters) - An Oakland company working with scientists 
from the University of California at Berkeley is claiming a 
breakthrough in the race to develop an instant roadside 
marijuana breathalyzer. 
    Hound Labs Inc, whose device is also uniquely designed to 
double up as an alcohol breathalyzer, is among a handful of  
companies and researchers hoping to capitalize on increasingly 
relaxed marijuana laws in the United States. 
    Hound Labs said on Wednesday it had found an accurate way to 
measure THC - the psychoactive component in cannabis - within 
one or two blows. The portable device is designed to help 
determine if a driver is impaired from recent marijuana use. 
    The idea is to replace a complicated assortment of costly 
blood and urine tests that can take days to get a result and 
cannot distinguish between recent and chronic use. 
    While 23 states have eased access to marijuana for medical 
use and four, plus Washington, D.C., allow recreational use,  
cannabis remains prohibited under federal law. 
    New Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also promised 
to legalize marijuana for recreational use.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12K172 
    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 
earlier this year that while cannabis impairs psychomotor skills 
and cognitive function, not enough is known about how much is 
needed to affect driving performance. 
    But some states are not waiting to reach a consensus on how 
much THC is too much to drive. 
    Washington and Montana have set a limit of 5 
nanograms/milliliter (ng/mL), while Pennsylvania has a 1 ng/mL 
limit. 
    "Right now the standards are completely arbitrary. I would 
argue that they are useless," Hound Labs Chief Executive Mike 
Lynn told Reuters, noting that existing tests cannot determine 
whether a person smoked an hour ago or 12 days earlier. 
    While Hound Labs' device, is designed to accurately measure 
THC levels from smoked pot, it cannot provide evidence of 
impairment by itself. 
    "Our ability to measure THC in breath really should shift 
the national dialogue from one about simply detecting if THC is 
in someone's body to a conversation where standards can be 
developed that reflect actual impairment," said Lynn. 
    Hound Labs was co-founded in 2014 by former venture 
capitalist Lynn, who is also an emergency room doctor and 
reserve deputy sheriff. 
    The company hopes to have its product ready by the end of 
next year, assuming all goes well in clinical trials scheduled 
to begin next quarter. 
    Hound Labs says it will price its product at about $1,000,  
in line with the average alcohol breathalyzer. 
    Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies Inc  BLO.CD , 
Colorado-based Lifeloc Technologies Inc  LCTC.PK  and a 
chemistry professor-PhD student duo at Washington State 
University are also known to be developing marijuana 
breathalyzers. 
 
 (Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr) 
 ((natalie.grover@thomsonreuters.com)(;)(within U.S. +1 646 223 
8780, outside U.S. +91 99 1694 7070)(; Reuters 
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Keywords: CANNABIS BREATHALYZER/