New Marijuana breathalyzer aims to detect workplace Cannabis use
There’s a new device hitting the market aimed at cracking down on cannabis use during work hours.
Created by Hound Labs, the Hound Cannabis Breathalyzer is considered the first breath test to isolate recent cannabis use.
Traditional drug tests can detect THC in your system, but it can’t tell you if cannabis use occurred an hour ago or two days ago. However, this new cannabis breathalyzer can.
“Employers want to use this extraordinary tool that drug testing is but not look back at use 48 hours ago, or, even in some cases, weeks ago and, so, it was very important to have a tool to look at that very recent use that happened during the workday verses that past use that falls into somebody’s private time,” said Nina French, President of Employer Solutions at Hound Labs.
“The most important piece of this is that it is that isolation of recent use– that’s what’s been missing in the market,” French said.
Marijuana testing is most often performed using a urine sample, but those tests can detect THC from cannabis use that occurred weeks ago.
“Hair testing isn’t good for recent use because it takes about a week for the cannabis to show up in the hair, so that’s really not an effective tool,” said French. “And oral fluid takes about 48- 72 hours.”
Unlike other tests, the Hound Cannabis Breathalyzer has a short THC detection window, which means it’ll only come up positive if you used cannabis within a few hours of the test.
Under New York State law, employers are banned from testing their workers for cannabis, unless they show signs of impairment.
French says while this new breathalyzer can provide some directness to cannabis use in the workplace, it can also serve as a deterrence.
“The goal should be, when effectively implementing this new technology into a workplace drug testing program, that you have zero positives because you deterred the use at the workplace before it happened,” said French.
While the breathalyzer detects recent cannabis use, French says it doesn’t measure how impaired you are.
Hound Labs is also working with law enforcement to create an on-demand breathalyzer for police that better meets their needs, one that provides instant results.
