Pubdate: Fri, 22 Apr 2016
Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Camille Bains
Page: C8

THE RACE ON TO DEVELOP MARIJUANA BREATHALYZERS BEFORE DRUG IS LEGALIZED

VANCOUVER - Companies developing breathalyzers to detect marijuana's
main psychoactive ingredient in suspected cannabis-impaired drivers
appear to be entering a crowded field as Canada prepares to legalize
pot.

Health Minister Jane Philpott announced Wednesday at a special United
Nations session on drugs that legislation to begin the process of
legalizing and regulating pot will be introduced next spring.

A University of British Columbia engineering professor is the latest
to create a breathalyzer she says can detect THC levels in the breath
of someone who has smoked pot.

Mina Hoorfar said Wednesday that the hand-held device, about the size
of two fingers together, can help police detect the chemical in a
driver's breath within seconds, unlike blood analysis or spit tests,
which are not immediate.

She said the "microfluidic breath analyzer" costs about $15 to
manufacture and is blue-tooth enabled so people can monitor their own
THC levels with a cellphone.

"The sniffer," as she also called it, is superior to competing
breathalyzers because it is highly sensitive to pot's major
high-inducing component, Hoorfar said.

False positives are a problem with other devices "because any other
odour can interfere with THC. With ours, we separate all kinds of
molecules. There won't be any false positive with ours."

Hoorfar and her colleague, PhD student Mohammad Paknahad, are in the
process of applying to a university ethics board for a clinical trial.

Hoorfar said the device can detect THC on someone's breath for about
12 hours, but she and Paknahad are trying to push that up to 24 hours
with their prototype.

Canadians suspected of driving while impaired by marijuana or other
drugs face the same penalties as those who get behind the wheel after
consuming alcohol.

The Criminal Code says a driver's blood sample may be taken under the
direction of a qualified medical practitioner and that anyone who
refuses or fails to comply with a demand to provide a sample commits
an offence.

Kal Malhi, president of Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies, said
his company has raised millions of dollars to bring its marijuana
breathalyzer to market.

He said the legalization of marijuana in Canada means police must have
the right tools to get impaired drivers off the road for everyone's
safety.

"Law enforcement has been hungry for it," said Malhi, who was a
Mountie in the Vancouver area from 2000 to 2009. "Society needs
something like this, just like it needed the alcohol
breathalyzer."

Malhi said Cannabix is leading competitors in North America and is
working with the University of Florida to conduct clinical trials
before aiming to get it approved in the United States and Canada.

The company conducted 100 tests using six medicinal marijuana patients
in Vancouver last year, he said, with 80 per cent accuracy before
switching to another technology to get better results.

"We were the first to take on the technology and understand that THC
can be detected in breath," he said. "We know intimately what's
involved, how to detect it, how quickly THC evaporates from your
system and the need to capture that quickly after an offence or a
roadside offence.

At least three other devices have been developed in the United States
in the quest to perfect a marijuana breath test - at Washington State
University, by Lifelock Technologies of Colorado and Hound Labs of
Oakland, Calif.

Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Colorado have legalized recreational
and medicinal use of marijuana while residents of 19 other states can
take pot for medical purposes only. In Washington, the maximum THC
level allowed for drivers is five nanograms per millilitre of blood.
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MAP posted-by: Matt