In the near future, law-enforcement officers may be able to pull over a person who they believe is driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and administer a roadside DUI test, that would determine the presence of drugs in the system. Swedish researchers have announced the development of a breathalyzer device that can actually test and determine the levels of marijuana, cocaine, and other illegal drugs in a person’s system.
The researchers used a conventional commercially available sampler, and conducted tests on as many as 40 patients. The subjects involved in the study were recovering at a drug treatment Center. All of these patients had consumed at least one illegal drug over the previous 24 hours. The researchers found that the device was able to detect alprazolam, which is the main active ingredient in common antianxiety drugs like xanax , and benzoylecgonine which is a byproduct of cocaine.
Los Angeles DUI lawyers find it interesting that the device was able to measure drug content considering that 24 hours had passed since the persons had used the drug. Currently, police officers rely on chemical tests in order to determine whether a motorist has been driving under the influence of marijuana, cocaine or any other narcotics. Obviously, a breath test that can be administered on a roadside and can immediately deliver a reading, will be much more useful and convenient.
Depending on how accurate these devices are, it is very likely that these devices will be very popular with police officers. Driving under the influence of drugs or drug-related DUI is believed to be widespread, and is actually thought to be much more common than driving under the influence of alcohol.
