Open wide for the potalyzer, a roadside saliva test for marijuana
Stanford engineers are hitting the breaks on driving under the influence of marijuana with a roadside device that can tell whether someone’s too stoned to be behind the wheel.
Their new “potalyzer” applies the same magnetic nanotechnology used in cancer screenings to detect THC molecules in saliva after someone lights up, and to also measure the concentration of the drug in someone’s spit.
Considering more than 20 states already allow some form of medicinal or recreational cannabis use, and several more including California, Massachusetts and Nevada are voting on some legalization of weed in November, it’s high time that police officers had a handy tool to test whether someone’s too lit to drive.
The standard practice of screening for THC through urine samples isn’t very practical in the field, however. So Shan Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering, led the Stanford team in creating the mobile device....
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