Roadside oral indicator tests are commonly used across North America and around the world to determine whether someone has drugs in their system, but what do they really show?
When you’re pulled over driving your vehicle and the police officer or trooper thinks you may be under the influence, a breath analyzer test could be used in conjunction with sobriety tests to determine what level of alcohol you have present in your system and whether or not you have an impaired ability to drive. As the legalization of both medical marijuana and recreational marijuana continues across North America, more and more law enforcement agencies are looking at ways to combat drug driving or drivers driving their vehicles under the influence of marijuana. However, detecting drugs in someone’s system isn't the problem. It’s determining whether the levels of drugs in someone’s system have impaired their ability to operate a motor vehicle. Roadside saliva tests don’t tell you how much of a particular drug you have in your system, how high you are, whether you’re impaired or how impaired you may be. They are just an indication that drugs are present at some level in your system.
When these roadside drug tests return a positive indication, people are then charged, and a blood test may be taken to determine how much of a substance is present inside their system. The problem is that this system could be fundamentally flawed.
What Are They Testing For?
The psychoactive compound inside cannabis responsible for getting you high is known as tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. THC is one of the two main cannabinoids found in marijuana and is responsible for the euphoric high many people experience when they consume or smoke cannabis.
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