Cannabix Technologies plans to begin beta testing its marijuana THC Breath Analyzer version 3.0 with an occupational health care provider in southern California early next year. Newport Beach-based Alipour Medical Centre provides drug and alcohol testing services to a number of local employers in the state.
After the recent election, 33 U.S. states now have some form of legal marijuana. The THCBA is an ideal device for employers and other markets who are seeking a way to quickly, easily and non-invasively test for recent use of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the psychoactive component of marijuana that causes impairment, according to a press release.
Alipour Medical Centre provides drug and alcohol testing services to a number of local employers in the state. Cannabix will be seeking additional organizations for beta testing. Interested parties to contact the company via its website www.cannabixtechnologies.com.
“The Cannabix device allows for more relevant THC detection from breath allowing employers to create an onsite regiment whereby they can perform pre-access testing for recent use of marijuana before and during work hours, instead of testing for drug use when employees are not at work,” the release states. “Cannabix will be beta testing its device in order to continue training the device’s machine learning database and improve user experience through testing feedback. The THCBA has been built to provide easy to understand screen prompts for the positive and negative detection of THC in breath in a portable manner, and can be administered without extensive training.”
Current forms of testing for marijuana use can identify THC ranging from minutes to days prior to actual use, making it impossible to show the difference between the two. Studies¹ have shown that breath is a better indicator of impairment than saliva, blood or urine because THC is present in breath for a relatively short period of time (1-3 hours); whereas, it is excreted at detectable levels in other body fluids for many hours, days, or even weeks after smoking. This short time period of detection in breath aligns with the peak impairment window.
“We are very pleased to be using one of the world’s first marijuana breathalyzers in our medical facility. We know first-hand how the legalization of marijuana has affected employers in our state. As occupational health practitioners based in Orange County, we understand the challenges that employers are facing in providing relevant drug testing for existing and new employees,” said Dr. Nima Alipour, CEO of Alipour Medical Corp. “We advise corporations on how best to keep their workforce safe; identifying safety issues as they pertain to impairment, while taking into account employee rights in an environment of state legalization.”