A company called Hound Labs from California has said that it has created the very first marijuana breath analysis test.
Based in Oakland, Hound Labs wants to make testing for marijuana as easy as testing for alcohol. The test has the potential to be used by police officers to see if drivers are using the drug.
“We are trying to make the establishment of impairment around marijuana rational and to balance fairness and safety,” said CEO Mike Lynn to NPR.
According to Lynn, his company has created a breath test to detect THC, the principal psychoactive ingredient in cannabis
“This is a disposable cartridge. And there’s a whole bunch of science in this cartridge,” Lynn explained.
Hound Labs says their cartridge can detect marijuana use within the past two hours, which many experts consider the peak time for the full effects of THC to kick in.
“When you find THC in breath, you can be pretty darn sure that somebody smoked pot in the last couple of hours,” Lynn said. “And we don’t want to have people driving during that time period or, frankly, at a work site in a construction zone.”
