study. But in majority of cases, the research
was correct, according to Hill. He presented
his findings during a session at Pittcon
titled, “Detection of Marijuana from Human
Breath by Breathalyzer-IMS.”
What’s Next?
While this particular study might be
concluded, the WSU research team is not
hanging up its ion mobility spectrometry
testing hat just yet. The group is currently in
another set of studies approved by the WSU
school board to combine both breath and
blood studies. This means blood samples will
be taken at the same time as breath samples
and see how they correlate to each other.
At the moment, a trained policer
officer/DRE is called in if someone is
driving impaired. The officer evaluates the
behavioral characteristics of the person and
then makes the call if it’s necessary to seek
a warrant from a judge to get a blood test
from the impaired individual.
In drug-impaired driving cases, successful
prosecution requires the production of
physical evidence at trial of a known
impairing drug in blood at time of arrest.
The breathalyzer would then serve as a
field screening device, which would give
the arresting officer solid evidence of the
likelihood of finding THC in the arrested
person’s blood. This evidence would justify
making the request of a judge for a search
warrant to secure blood for the gathering of
such incriminating evidence, according to
Lovrich.
Although the research team is currently
in talks with the police about their new
research, they’re not ready to hand it over to
law enforcement at this time, as it’s still in
developmental stages.
Hill said he hopes the new marijuana
breathalyzer device will be ready for police
use in the next six months to a year.
“I am quite confident that the workplace
monitoring tool Prof. Hill is developing will
indeed be used by law enforcement and
others for THC on-site detection,” Lovrich
concluded. “This device is essential in the
effort to deal with the growing problem of
public and workplace safety resulting from
the liberalization of marijuana laws in the
U.S. and worldwide.”
— Anna Spiewak, Editor, R&D Magazine
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