Researchers at CU Boulder hope to make reliable breath testing for marijuana a reality

BOULDER, Colo. (KRDO) - It was way back in 2012 when Colorado voters approved the passage of Amendment 64, legalizing recreational marijuana. But law enforcement still does not have a reliable way to test drivers to see if they took the drug recently and distinctly establish if they're too impaired to drive.

In a previous study, researchers found while it's possible to detect trace levels of cannabis in breath, a single breath measurement can't reliably conclude when a person last used the drug or whether the person should be deemed impaired.

There are a few cannabis breathalyzers on the market, but it's unclear how reliable they are, according to professors at the University of Colorado Boulder.

But researchers at the university are hoping to change that.

CU Boulder and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) have partnered to research and map the peaks and declines of a cannabis high in real-time.

“The ultimate goal is to develop a reliable tool that supports fair law enforcement and helps keep our roads safe,” said Cinnamon Bidwell, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience and co-director of CUChange, in a press release.

While the researchers say they don't plan to make their own breathalyzer, they expect their research could help others who will make one themselves.