Marijuana and driving
Now there are those marijuana users who will blithely tell you no such thing is needed, that marijuana doesn’t negatively affect driving — some insist it enhances it — but studies show that is not the case. A meta-analysis of nine studies conducted at Dalhousie University in Montreal in 2011 concluded driving under the influence of pot doubles the chance of an accident.
Other studies show pot and driving is an unsafe mix and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration put out a comprehensive paper this year that detailed pot’s affect on psychomotor skills. Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher, a researcher in Vancouver, is currently conducting a study over five years on marijuana and driving. He is looking into the effects of the drug and reactions.
“There is clear evidence that cannabis, like alcohol, impairs the psychomotor skills required for safe driving,” Dr. Brubacher said when he announced his study in 2012. “Cannabis intoxication slows reaction time and impairs automated tasks such as tracking ability – staying within a lane – or monitoring the speedometer.”
Race is on for pot breathalyzer
So the dangers of using pot and driving and the ability of getting pot more easily combine to create a need for a breathalyser that will help police to determine if a driver is under the marijuana influence, or stoned. The race is on to come up with such a device.
A Vancouver company is in that race. Cannabix Technologies Inc., founded by former RCMP officer Kal Malhi, is testing its entry and it is expected to be ready for mass marketing soon. Soon enough that Cannabix may be the first to hit the market with a hand-held device that can test pot usage just like an alcohol breathalyzer tests for booze.
There are other companies, such as Colorado-based Lifeloc Technologies Inc., and they all have a reason to win the battle and create the device most used by police agencies in the U.S. and Canada, and around the world. The average breathalyzer for boozes costs around $300 to $400, for the marijuana breathalyzer that price may be north of $2,500.
