Breathe Deep

he holiday season is over, and it’s safe to say more than a few out there are left with reminders of the season beyond treasured gifts.  Some people may have made the poor decision to drive after over-imbibing during the holiday season, leaving them with expensive D.U.I. related legal fees. For cannabis users, this is especially problematic, because there’s no clear-cut way for officers to accurately test for intoxication on the road. But that’s about to change.

Researchers at Washington State University are creating a breathalyzer for cannabis. Professor of Chemistry, Herbert Hill and a team of researchers are developing a mobile breath test, which will measure THC per milliliter of blood. The current limit in Washington state to drive legally is five nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. As with any new test being administered on the general public by law enforcement, there are concerns about the test’s accuracy. But Hill assures that this product will help improve accuracy.

“We hope to be able to detect THC in breath.  We expect that THC is present in breath up to four hours after smoking. The technology is based on Ion Mobility Spectrometry, the same technology that is used to detect explosives in airports.” Hill told CULTURE.  “The analytical figures of merit such as detection limits, reproducibility and selectivity will be part of the research and we cannot comment on these until the work has been completed.”

A THC-detecting breathalyzer would come just in time. D.U.I. arrests that tested above the legal limit for THC, rose from 18.6 percent in 2012, to 25 percent in 2013, the year cannabis was legalized. But is a breath test the best way to test for cannabis intoxication?

As of now, it very well may be. Like swab testing, Hill’s new breath test will look for delta-9 THC present in a driver’s breath. Unlike THC-COOH, which can stay present in someone’s body for months after consumption, delta-9 THC is only present within hours of smoking. Delta-9 THC is considered the active drug. So the THC breathalyzer should help clear up some of the issues law enforcement and drivers alike have had with the accuracy of drug tests for THC.

According to the Washington State Patrol, any efforts to get less people driving intoxicated are appreciated. However, until the product is immaculately accurate, they won’t be using it. Hopefully as legalization spreads all over the country, more accurate products such as this one will be developed to separate the “stoned” from the “stoners.”