One toke over the line: Race on to develop "pot breathalyzer"

Lifeloc Technologies

13/07/2015 18:13

By Natalie Grover 
    July 13 (Reuters) - As cannabis bans are relaxed in more 
U.S. states, the race is on to develop an instant roadside 
breathalyzer for police to test drivers who may be taking the 
"high" road. 
    Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies Inc  BLO.CD , founded 
by a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, expects to 
be first out of the gate with a "pot breathalyzer" - a handheld 
device similar to those used to detect alcohol. 
    Cannabix won't give an estimate of when its product might go 
on sale, but has a prototype undergoing in-house testing. 
    Other hopefuls, such as Colorado-based Lifeloc Technologies 
Inc  LCTC.PK  and a chemistry professor-PhD student duo at 
Washington State University, are still busy in the lab. 
    The devices aim to accurately detect the presence of THC, 
the psychoactive component in cannabis, but can't provide enough 
evidence of impairment by themselves. 
    "I think the first breathalyzer on the market will be a 
simple 'yes' or 'no' for the presence of THC at the time of the 
test, and in that sense it won't provide a quantitative 
evidential measure," said Barry Knott, the chief executive of 
Lifeloc, which already makes alcohol breathalyzers. 
    The size of the potential market is unclear, owing to widely 
varying estimates of cannabis use, and unreliable data on those 
driving under its influence. 
    But developers say they will be able to sell pot devices for 
a lot more than the ubiquitous alcohol breathalyzers. 
    Lifeloc sells alcohol breathalyzers for $300-$400 but 
expects to charge $2,500-$3,500 for its cannabis version. 
    Marijuana is illegal under U.S. federal law but is allowed 
for medical use in about half the country's states. Others, 
including Oregon and Colorado, have gone further, allowing 
recreational use. 
    Lifeloc shares, traded over the counter, have risen about 21 
percent to $14.50 this year, while Cannabix's have risen about 
21 percent to 17 Canadian cents on the small-cap Canadian 
Securities Exchange. 
    A roadside breathalyzer would replace a complicated 
assortment of costly blood and urine tests that can take days to 
get a result. But even these tests are a long way from showing 
impairment, as the science on how cannabis affects driving is 
far from settled. 
    
    HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? 
    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a 
paper this year, said cannabis impairs psychomotor skills, 
attention, lane tracking and cognitive function, but not enough 
is known about how much is needed to affect driving performance. 
    This is primarily because of the vastly different ways in 
which alcohol and cannabis affect the human body. 
    Whether marijuana is smoked or ingested also dramatically 
changes how the body processes it. It's also difficult to 
isolate the affects of cannabis in crashes if drivers have also 
consumed alcohol and/or other drugs. 
    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. 
    Other states prohibit drivers from having any measurable 
amount of cannabis in their system. 
    These limits are more political than based on science, said 
Nicholas Lovrich, a political scientist at Washington State 
University who is researching the accuracy of drug-recognition 
experts - police officers trained to detect drug impairment in 
drivers. 
    Cannabix founder Kal Malhi initially aims to cater to Canada 
and the U.S. states that have zero tolerance for THC, hoping his 
device - designed to confirm police observations - will be able 
to accurately detect THC up to two hours after consumption. 
    The company won't talk about its technology, other than to 
say a patent is pending. Aside from law enforcement, Malhi sees 
employers and educational institutions as potential customers. 
    Lifeloc's research has been boosted by a $250,000 grant from 
the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International 
Trade.  ID:nBw1LWSYSa  
    The company has undertaken laboratory tests of its 
technology, but creating a real-time device that can collect 
enough sample for reasonable analysis is proving a challenge. 
    A few blows are typically sufficient to determine alcohol 
levels, Knott said. "... With a marijuana breathalyzer we'd have 
somebody blowing like 20 times - that's just not going to fly." 
    Washington State University is also still in the research 
stage, as part of a project applying existing technology - ion 
mobility spectrometry - to drug testing, including cannabis. 
    "(This) is the same technology used for explosive detection 
at airports, the same technology used across the world for 
chemical warfare detection," said Dr. Herbert Hill, who is 
working on the research with student Jessica Tufariello. 
    However, the likely inability of these devices to accurately 
detect levels of THC - at least initially - raises the question 
of whether law enforcement agencies will clamor to buy them. 
    "If this is just a matter of showing how many people have 
THC in their systems, then it's essentially useless," said Steve 
Sarich, who runs a cannabis advocacy group and serves as an 
expert witness for cases involving THC-related impairment. 
 
 (Editing by Rodney Joyce and Ted Kerr) 
 ((natalie.grover@thomsonreuters.com)(;)(within U.S. +1 646 223 
8780, outside U.S. +91 99 1694 7070)(; Reuters 
Messaging:)(natalie.grover.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CANNABIS BREATHALYZER/