Vancouver lawyer to challenge federally-approved marijuana test
Posted September 5, 2018 10:19 pm.
Last Updated September 5, 2018 10:21 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Legalization of recreational marijuana is still more than a month away, but some lawyers are already planning on challenging the validity of a federally-approved THC testing device.
Kyla Lee with Acumen Law is calling the “Drager DrugTest 5000” is invasive. She also questions its reliability.
“In other jurisdictions, we’ve seen false positive rates on the device of around 15 per cent, as well as false negatives in the 12 to 13 per cent range,” she says.
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She claims the THC testing device, which screens saliva, can’t be used in very cold temperatures. She also says it takes a long time to analyze a sample.
“I would prefer something that actually tests for impairment. Whether that’s a cognitive test that’s developed by the police, or a modification of existing testing processes,” she says.
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Lee believes detecting impairment as opposed to a certain concentration of THC in the bloodstream is a better route.
She plans to file a challenge to the use of the THC testing device, pretty much the first time a case is brought forward to her firm.
Recreational pot is set to be legalized on Oct. 17.
– With files from Marcella Bernardo and the Canadian Press
