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Dear Stoner: Is a cannabis breathalyzer really possible? Everything I understand about cannabis impairment and trying to measure it makes that sound like a pipe dream.
Tulip
Dear Tulip: Never say never. Federal cannabis research is very new, and science evolves plenty over ten or twenty years. But right now, it doesn’t look like we’re anywhere close to an effective breathalyzer, even though some media-thirsty companies say otherwise to push product. Really smart people are on the case, though.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have been trying to measure THC intoxication for years, and they’ve found significant inconsistencies in the reliability of breathalyzers, which can detect THC in breath but not impairment levels. Using a mobile lab inside of a van to visit cannabis users before conducting impairment tests, they’ve also found infrequencies between cannabis potency and impairment. That work impressed the National Institute of Standards and Technology enough that it partnered with CU in a quest to develop reliable breathalyzers, a project they just announced last week. We’ll keep you posted.
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