The device, known as the Abbott SoToxa, must now go through a 30-day public consultation period before it can come into use
OTTAWA — The federal government has taken the first step toward approving a new device for testing drivers’ saliva for cannabis use, potentially giving police a long-awaited second option.
The approval process for the controversial devices, which allow police to swab saliva at the roadside to check for the presence of THC , has taken much longer than the government anticipated. The testing is overseen by a specialized committee of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science, which then makes a recommendation to the attorney general when it determines a device meets the government’s established standards.
Police forces were initially hesitant to order the Draeger, with some — such as the Ottawa Police Service — expressing skepticism over the device’s reliability, particularly in cold weather. The saliva-testing devices do not measure the level of impairment in a driver, and the results cannot be the basis of criminal charges. Instead, they are meant to screen at the roadside for whether cannabis was recently consumed, and the results can form the grounds for police to arrest drivers and take them in for further testing to check for impairment.
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