Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html Website: http://www.theprovince.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Nick Eagland Page: 16 POT-TESTING MACHINE ALMOST READY TO GO Local Company: Groups Raise Concerns for Workers Workplace tokers may soon find their cover blown by a high-tech machine built to smoke them out. The Vancouver firm behind a marijuana breathalyzer says its product is now months away from final testing, after which it could end up in the hands of law enforcers and employers. But experts say there are some big caveats before widespread workplace weed screening becomes commonplace. Publicly-traded Cannabix Technologies Inc. has in recent months worked with medical marijuana users to test a prototype of its breathalyzer, which determines whether someone has ingested tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active component of pot, within the past two hours. Cannabix's president Kal Mahli said his firm hopes to have it on the market following a battery of beta-testing to ensure it's 100-per-cent accurate. Mahli said his firm is being hounded by law enforcement agencies for the device, which has also generated interest from transport, shipping, mining and energy industries. He claims Cannabix is first to develop a pot breathalyzer, though Colorado's Lifeloc Technologies, researchers at Western State University and a pair of University of Akron students have similar devices in the works. Such breathalyzers are a response to pot's increased social acceptance and the need for a tool to determine if workers can safely perform their jobs, Mahli said. Indeed, Health Canada expects the number of medical marijuana users to rise to 450,000 by 2024, up from 37,000 in 2013. Mahli predicts use of pot will surpass that of alcohol. Mahli said urine and saliva tests can detect past drug use, but don't necessarily demonstrate a worker's ability to work a given shift, which is where the breathalyzer comes in. At issue, however, is whether such a device can reliably tell if a worker is fit for duty. "Presence of THC and even the use of THC in the last couple of hours tells you only that the person has ingested THC in the last couple of hours," said Kirk Tousaw, a lawyer who works primarily with the medical marijuana industry. "It doesn't tell you whether or not that person is impaired ... if their performance is going to be affected." Tousaw said he's seen hysteria around marijuana use in safety-conscious industries such as trucking and construction, and a lack of science about how marijuana impairs users - particularly medical or experienced users - has Tousaw concerned such a test could harm safe, efficient workers. Micheal Vonn, policy director for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, echoed Tousaw's concerns around detecting impairment. "The trick always with these drug recognition tests is the ability to test for actual impairment, as opposed to use," Vonn said. "What we don't want to see is the kind of tool that is so broad-based that it would show that someone used marijuana on the weekend, that they are a medical cannabis user and that any other kind of cannabis had been ingested that does not constitute the issue, which is impairment." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom