yellowknife –
RCMP in the Northwest Territories have begun using roadside cannabis screening technology that has faced criticism from defense lawyers elsewhere in Canada.
Mounties in the territory announced late last month that they had deployed devices designed to take a saliva sample and test for the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis. They said the technology would help them spot impaired drivers and make the roads safer.
But some criminal defense attorneys have raised concerns about the ability of these devices to provide reliable test results, especially in cold temperatures. They argue that the technology is not effective in determining whether someone is impaired.
“It could lead to people being arrested who are actually innocent,” said Kayla Lee, a Vancouver lawyer.
Lee said research shows that devices are more likely to provide false results in extreme cold temperatures, and movement during analysis can also affect results. She added that while the devices can give a positive or negative test result, they do not indicate how much THC may be in a person’s bloodstream.
Lee recently represented a Nova Scotia woman in a constitutional challenge to the law that allows roadside drug testing technology in Canada.
Michelle Gray, who uses cannabis for multiple sclerosis, had her car impounded and her license suspended for a week after she failed a saliva test for cannabis at a roadside checkpoint in 2019, despite passing that night sobriety test.
“The technology just doesn’t exist yet to allow police to determine drug impairment using physical equipment,” Lee said.
Lee is awaiting a decision on the constitutional challenge in Nova Scotia. She said she expects there will be further legal challenges in other Canadian jurisdictions where these devices are used, including the Northwest Territories.
There are two devices approved for roadside cannabis screening in Canada: the Drager DrugTest 5000 and the Abbott SoToxa mobile testing system. The manufacturers of the devices recommend that they be used at temperatures not lower than 4 C and 5 C, respectively.
Corporal Andre Sieber of the Regina Police Service, which began using roadside devices to detect cannabis use in early 2020, said officers bring drivers to their vehicles for testing to rule out issues with weather conditions or temperatures .
“We’ve used it all season here in Regina,” she said. “We have very cold winters and some pretty nasty, snowy cold days and you need a person to take care of your vehicle with you where it’s heated and that’s not a problem.”
Sieber said the more THC a person has consumed, the more likely they are to show signs of impairment and test positive.
RCMP said roadside screening devices are just one tool they use to detect and investigate drugged drivers, along with officer observations. Field sobriety tests and drug recognition experts remain the main enforcement tools, they said.
“Police officers rely on what they see and hear as well as what they smell when investigating impaired drivers,” the RCMP said in a written statement. “Regardless of how the drug is consumed, there are signs of that consumption and police are trained to recognize them.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 13, 2022.
This story was produced with the financial assistance of Meta and the Canadian Press News Fellowship.
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