A pair of graduate students from Ohio have designed the “Cannibuster,” a roadside saliva test that can detect whether a driver is under the influence of marijuana.
The test, which analyzes THC levels in the bloodstream, would take just minutes, whereas police currently rely on lab work that takes weeks to process.
The students, Mariam Crow and Kathleen Stitzlein, won a $10,000 inventors’ award for the invention, according to The Plain Dealer.
“Today if a driver is suspected of impaired driving due to marijuana, law enforcement officers must call an Emergency Medical Squad to the scene or take the driver to a local hospital for blood work,” Stitzlein said in a statement. “Lab results can take up to six weeks to come back, which is clearly not ideal.”
Several states that legalized marijuana have currently set the legal limit for drivers at 5 nanograms of THC.
Crow and Stitzlein will now work with law enforcement to perfect their technology. They will also receive $20,000 worth of mentoring and other assistance from experienced entrepreneurs.
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