The ability to determine if someone is driving under the influence of marijuana has been one of the main concerns with cannabis legalization, but a Vancouver-based company is now attempting to create the world's first marijuana breathalyzer test. 

Like Us on Facebook

Although multiple studies, including one published in the journal Psychopharmacology, suggests that driving while under the influence of marijuana is not as deadly as driving under the influence of alcohol, the drug is still capable of impairing cognitive functions and poses a safety risk.

Law enforcement currently relies on blood, saliva and urine tests to find evidence of marijuana consumption. However, this method isn't effective considering the tests are able to detect marijuana use days prior - as the main psychoactive ingredient THC stores in fat cells - and doesn't determine if the driver is under the influence while driving.

With states such as Colorado and Washington recently implementing recreational marijuana laws in addition to Alaska, Oregon and Washington D.C. approving the legalization of marijuana during midterm elections, there's now a sense of urgency to come up with an effective way to determine if a driver is impaired by marijuana.

Cannabis Technologies, based in Vancouver, hopes to put the concerns to rest, as the company "has spent the past eight months creating, honing and patenting a breathalyzer that tests for THC, the ingredient in marijuana that gets users high," International Business Times reports.

Co-founder Kal Malhi says the company wants to develop a breathalyzer device that's capable of determining whether someone has smoked marijuana within the last three hours. This would eliminate the guesswork of police authorities when enforcing marijuana laws, and would absolve anyone who contains THC in their system but is not actually impaired when driving.

Malhi says he expects the company to have an effective working preliminary model of a marijuana breathalyzer by the end of February, and to have the device approved by government officials by summer of 2015.  

Tagsmarijuana legalization, cannabis, breathalyzer test, driving under the influence, cognitive functions, THC, Cannabis Technologies, marijuana laws