Hound Labs have developed a marijuana breathalyzer test — similar to current ones testing for alcohol consumption — that will be able to tell whether someone is stoned up to three hours after smoking.
A company in Canada, SannTek, is also competing to release their test at about the same time.
Hound Labs co-founder and medical doctor Mike Lynn told The Sacramento Bee the device should be ready for market by the last half of 2020 and could be deployed by law enforcement and in the workplace to ensure sober driving and on-the-job safety.
Citing statistics that 14.8 million Americans have started up a car within an hour of smoking pot, Mr. Lynn said the three-hour window will allow high drivers to be caught when they’re most impaired.
He also sees the test as “benefiting all parties” in the workplace because current urine tests can detect traces of marijuana up to a month after the test subject used it.
According to the Bee, prosecuting individuals for being intoxicated from marijuana use has been difficult as there’s no way to differentiate whether a person smoked weed say hour or a day before being pulled over.
Even so, Madera, Calif., police chief Dino Lawson told the Bee his department will not rush to buy these new devices just yet.
“I think it’s interesting technology, but we don’t want to be the first to jump on it,” he said.
“Absolutely, there’s a need for it. I hope they perfect it.”
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