Marijuana breathalyzers take a step closer to becoming accepted

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Ongoing trials of cannabis breathalyzers have lowered the detection time to five minutes

For some time now, it has been reported that different researchers are doing their best to create the equivalent of a breathalyzer to detect marijuana consumption. According to the latest updates, they are getting closer and closer to achieving this goal.

During a preliminary study, scientists made it clear that their rapid test would have the ability to reliably detect tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in people’s saliva within five minutes. THC is known to be the ingredient in marijuana with psychoactive effects. Being able to measure its level in people can be helpful in analyzing how capable they are of performing certain tasks. In fact, THC is currently considered the “gold standard” for detecting marijuana use in urine or blood. The downside of these methods, however, is that the results can take days to process.

Another drawback that has become more than clear is that, unlike alcohol, THC can remain in the bloodstream for days or even weeks. Therefore, a positive blood test should not necessarily reflect recent marijuana use. This being the case, it has been very difficult to develop an efficient roadside testing tool for marijuana use, similar to the breathalyzer, which is a great way to measure how much alcohol a driver has recently been drinking.

According to Hakho Lee, principal investigator of the new study, detecting THC in saliva may be the solution to all problems as it reflects marijuana consumption in the last 12 hours. In addition to quickly detecting THC in saliva, Lee said his team was also able to develop a test capable of quantifying the amount. After testing both users and non-users, they accurately collected THC in saliva samples from all users of the drug. According to Lee, it took about three minutes from “sample in, result out,” making it an effective tool that could be a game-changer.