First Saliva Screening Roadside Test for Cannabis Approved in Canada

The quest for a cannabis breathalyzer to keep stoned drivers off the road is still meandering down its own long road with little to show for its journey.

In early in August 2018, a California company, Hound Labs, claimed it has made a major breakthrough with it’s a disposable cartridge breathalyzer that would show indicator bars when it detected any THC on the person’s breath and could accurately detect whether a person had smoked weed within the last two hours.

Now, in Canada, which is about five weeks away from legalizing cannabis, the Justice Minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould has announced the approval of a new roadside test to check for drug impairment, reported CBC News.

The Drager DrugTest 5000, to be the first saliva-screening equipment to be used by Canadian law enforcement, has the ability to test for THC.

Tools currently on the market to determine marijuana levels in a blood, saliva or urine can take days for a result. And, more importantly, they can’t really tell whether a person has smoked a half hour ago or eight days ago. THC dissolves in fat so it can stay in your body up to a month after use.

The current Liberal government of Canada has promised $161 million in funding for drug-testing equipment and police training to be carried out over the next five years; this includes a public awareness campaign about the risks of driving while high.

Though legalization is quickly approaching, the Canadian Association of Police said in July that it is unlikely to reach its goal of having 2,000 officers trained to spot drug-impaired drivers, according to the CBC News.

Nevertheless, the new equipment will be made available to law enforcement across Canada but police forces will be able to decide on their own what equipment they use.