CFN Media Group (“CFN Media”), the leading agency and financial
media network dedicated to the North American cannabis industry,
announces publication of an article discussing the complex issues
surrounding marijuana-impaired driving and the efforts
of Cannabix Technologies (CSE:BLO) (CNSX:BLO) (BLO.CN)
(OTC:BLOZF) to provide a solution to the problems with testing for
impairment. The company has advanced its Beta 3.0 Cannabix
Marijuana Breathalyzer through several stages of development,
hoping to solve the issues surrounding accurate and convenient
testing of THC levels.
As legal cannabis use, both medicinal and recreational, spreads
farther and wider through both Canada and the United States, one
public health concern continues to vex those responsible for
regulating public safety. In essence, nobody knows what constitutes
impaired driving under the influence of cannabis, what blood levels
of THC are acceptable, or even how to accurately test those levels
and correlate them with impairment. Compounding the problem is the
lack of public awareness of the dangers of drugged driving.
Alcohol vs. Cannabis Impaired Driving
Alcohol-impaired driving is fairly straightforward in terms of
testing, and well understood both by the public and by safety
officials. Due to years of scientific study and public awareness
campaigns, and to the obvious nature of alcohol impairment,
everyone recognizes the dangers and knows the legal limits of
alcohol use when it comes to driving. Anything more than one drink
an hour and you are risking not only your life but the life of
others, as well as legal peril. Either the alcohol is in your
bloodstream or not, and there are formulas that can be used to
determine the rate at which the body metabolizes alcohol.
Cannabis impairment is not as simple, for a variety of reasons.
The plant has been illegal for so long that scientific study has
been severely lacking. For instance, regulators are just now
realizing that THC metabolizes into various forms in the body, some
of which are detectable for weeks after using marijuana.
Cannabix issued an update recently stating, “Marijuana
contains several cannabinoids in addition to THC. Many of these
have shorter half-lives and are metabolized in the body relatively
quickly. THC can be detectable in blood for weeks, whereas
metabolites such as 11-hydroxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and
11-nor-9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol are only detectable for a few
hours after consumption of cannabis. The Cannabix FAIMS device has
demonstrated the detection of THC and related metabolites in MS
(mass spectrometer)-coupled testing. The detection of THC and its
metabolites in human breath provides for real-time pharmacokinetic
analysis. Such analysis provides a method for the identification of
“recency of use” and also provides analysis of frequent users of
marijuana who tend to retain THC in their body for longer periods
of time, relative to infrequent marijuana users who tend to clear
THC from their body more quickly. This data and analysis will be
important for an eventual court approved device.”
As the science slowly catches up with reality, conflicting
studies have been published regarding how much marijuana use
impairs drivers. In fact, the US National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration published a study in 2015 indicating that stoned
drivers are about as likely to get in a wreck as sober drivers. At
the same time, the state of Washington’s Traffic Safety Commission
announced that marijuana use doubles the risk of being in a fatal
crash. It’s no wonder that public sentiment is much more tolerant
of driving while high on cannabis than it is of driving while drunk
on alcohol.
Need for Reliable Testing
Regardless of where regulators come down on the issue of
acceptable levels of THC and impaired driving, one glaring need
remains. Accurate, portable, non-invasive testing is still a fairly
elusive target. As Sarah Urfer, president and owner of ChemaTox lab
based in Boulder Colorado, put it, “Testing for THC in whole blood
isn’t actually that hard. Where the issue comes is with
interpretation and roadside testing.”
Last year, the Canadian federal government studied the
effectiveness of roadside saliva tests. While the tests were easy
to use and non-invasive, their accuracy (especially in cold
weather) is questionable at best. In fact, 80% of the positive
results came in weather colder than the manufacturers’ recommended
temperature range. Even after the saliva test, a blood test is
still required for further analysis and more accurate results.
Cannabix Technologies believes it has the answer to this part of
the problem. The company’s Cannabix Marijuana Breathalyzer is being
developed to work both independently in the field and in the lab
when coupled with a mass spectrometer. This is important since
confirmation of field tests by lab spectrometry will likely be
essential for the tests to meet regulatory standards.
The breathalyzer also incorporates a specialized breath
temperature stabilizing component that overcomes issues surrounding
testing in cold weather. Without this level of reliability in a
variety of temperatures and environments, any testing protocol may
well prove useless and subject to legal challenges. Additionally,
while waiting for a backup blood test, cannabis blood levels
decrease up to 80-90% in the first hour after use but THC is still
impacting the brain. Getting the test right the first time, in a
laboratory-verifiable manner, is essential to providing the best
solution.
The company, law enforcement, politicians, advocates… everyone
agrees that there is an urgent need to settle on an acceptable
method for roadside cannabis testing as legalization spreads across
North America. “We’re in the infancy with this, and it’s very much
an unknown since we don’t have the data,” Greenwood Village
Colorado Police Chief John Jackson said. “We spent 25 or 30 years
figuring out where we were with alcohol, and finally got to
breathalyzers. There is no field test for marijuana yet.” Cannabix
Technologies may have the answer, stay tuned for further
developments.
Please follow the link to read the full
article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/us-canadian-officials-scramble-solve-marijuana-impaired-driving-issue/
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