New Device in Minnesota Works Like a Breathalyzer for Weed Detection

New information.  If you were wondering, like a lot of people have been, how officers would be able to detect levels of marijuana impairment like how they do for alcohol, here is a new device that they are hoping will work in that way.  Only this time, it's focused on your eyes and not your breath, or blood level.

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From KARE 11:

There are several things out there that are being tested to find out how to accurately test if a person is too impaired to drive.  One of these test programs is being led by two sisters who are from Minnesota.

Dr. Rosina Samadani, a health care technology entrepreneur, and Dr. Uzma Samadani, a neurosurgeon, co-founded their company called Oculogica.

This has first been tested in Maryland, and is hopefully going to be approved and will eventually be used here in Minnesota.  The device is called OcuPro.  It is already being used around the United States as a pilot program.  In other words, they are still trying to work out the kinks.

Some of the issue comes from different people respond differently to the same amount of marijuana consumed.  So it's hard to regulate.

"When it appears in the blood stream, it also disappears from the blood stream very quickly," said Peace, "so what we see is, you get a spike of the drug in your blood, potentially before you have very many effects. Giving them a THC breathalyzer when you’re right there on the scene might not really indicate that number you get about how much THC is in the blood, so we really then beg the question: What do we need to determine if someone is impaired at the time they get pulled over?"

The test right now takes 30 minutes.  Obviously they will need to do something a lot faster than that when/if it does become something that officers will carry with them.

 a high-speed, eye-tracking camera, high-resolution screens and a powerful computer. The user watches a 30-second video that monitors even the most minor changes in someone's eyes and determines whether their pupils are abnormal or not. 

For right now the police in Minnesota are looking at using a saliva test that is also used in Europe and other areas where marijuana is legal. But if the OcuPro works out (after a lot more testing) to be something for accurate, then Minnesota may look at investing in that device.