A few competitors out there - Is there room for all?
Drager and Alere are BIG COMPANIES. BIG COMPANIES tend to eat little companies vs growing organically.. usually cheaper
Everything you need to know about roadside testing
By Lori Culbert
For decades, police have used a breathalyzer to test whether a driver has had too much alcohol. Now that Canada is on the verge of legalizing marijuana, is there a similar roadside test to detect pot-impaired motorists? The answer, according to the RCMP, is yes …. and no.
So, what are police doing to get ready to crack down on stoned drivers? Public Safety Canada and the RCMP are investigating three roadside devices that will collect saliva from drivers — a less invasive substance to collect, compared with blood or urine, which typically require warrants.
Unlike a breathalyzer, these devices will not provide the level of a person’s impairment. But they will indicate when a drug is present so followup can be done to confirm the amount, the RCMP say.
What will be the legal limit? The Canadian Society of Forensic Science is trying to determine what the legal limit will be, but says science
so far is unclear as to what amount of pot makes a person impaired. Police suggest the government adopt a number in the neighbourhood of five nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood.
There is no consensus in the U.S., where pot is already legal in some states. Colorado, Washington and Montana test for THC levels of more than five ng, Pennsylvania more than four, and Nevada and Ohio more than two ng, according to an American Automobile Association report. Eleven states have “zero tolerance” for any THC in drivers’ blood.
Some scientists and lawyers have raised concerns about whether these tests can properly determine if a person is intoxicated by pot, and some insist the various legal limits used in the U.S. are
arbitrary and unsupported by science. They say Intoxication is dependent upon the type of pot consumed, how long before driving the marijuana was taken, and the person’s tolerance to weed. Using the five-ng threshold could classify some stoned drivers as innocent and some sober drivers as over the legal limit, the AAA study said. In Canada, the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is conducting a similar study.
The three devices being tested have not been approved for use in Canada but will help set standards for the roadside tests that will be used here. Once the rules are finalized, manufacturers can submit their devices for testing. The RCMP would not provide a timeframe for the approval and purchase of the devices. In the meantime, police will rely on standard sobriety tests — such as touching your nose with your fingers — if they suspect someone is driving under the influence of pot.
Here are the three devices being used in preliminary testing:
Drger DrugTest 5000
https://www.draeger.com/sites/enus_us/Pages/Alcohol-and-Drug-Detection/Draeger-DrugTest-5000.aspx?navID=175
Country: Germany
Size: As big as a toaster, 4.5-kg screening system
Time for results: Five to 10 minutes
Drugs detected: Seven, including cannabis
How it works: Rub the tip of the collector cassette on the cheeks and tongue. The tip will turn blue when sufficient saliva has been collected. Insert the cassette into the box-sized analyzer, followed by a buffer cartridge. Results can be printed from a mobile printer, and the device stores 500 test results.
Securetec DrugWipe 6S
https://www.securetec.net/en/saliva-drug-test-drugwipe
Country: Germany
Size: Small test capsule that fits in a pocket
Time for results: Three to eight minutes
Drugs detected: Seven, including cannabis
How it works: The saliva collector is removed from the rectangular hard casing. Drivers are asked to rub their tongues on the inside of their cheeks, then the device is wiped on the tongue to collect saliva. A light will change colour to yellow from red to indicate sufficient saliva collected. The collector is put back in the test cassette and held vertically, while a button is pressed to break a capsule containing a liquid. Results will be ready several minutes later.
Alere DDS2
https://www.alere.com/en/home/product-details/dds2-mobile-test-system.html
Country: United Kingdom
Size: Hand-held device
Time for results: Five minutes
Drugs detected: Six, including cannabis
How it works: Remove test cartridge from package and insert into analyzer. Collect saliva from the mouth on a swabbed stick. Insert saliva stick into cartridge. Results indicate presence of a drug in the blood system. Results can be printed or stored.
Potalyzer Will Detect Cannabis in Minutes
Potalyzer Will Detect Cannabis in Minutes
Police in legal states are currently testing several devices but accuracy has been a problem.
With Election Day just months away and the possibility of new states legalizing marijuana, state officials are pushing for more research and new ways to spot stoned drivers.
A device currently gaining traction because it can test for
THC in minutes with the use of saliva has been dubbed the “Potalyzer”. The portable device can detect concentrations of THC in the range of 0 to 50 nanograms per milliliter of saliva by cotton swab and get results viewable on a smartphone or laptop in just a three minutes.
The system was created by Professor Shan Xiang Wang at Stanford University and the device uses a magneto-nanosensor, which is able to detect traces of marijuana in saliva. The sensors require connections via Bluetooth to a smartphone where officers can analyze instantly, eliminating the need to test at a lab.
Tom Abate, associate director of communications at Stanford Engineering, said he does not know how this test compares to others on the market.
Now it’s up for state officials to come up with limitations on how much THC is in a person's system in order to determine they are too impaired to drive.
What about the people who use prescription medication while driving? If there's a need to test for THC, it’s only fair that other drug use should be subject to testing as well.
https://houndlabs.com/
The first dual marijuana & alcohol breathalyzer
Both detects and measures THC and alcohol in breath at the roadside. Provides data about recent use.