Roadside drug test provides more Q’s than A’s

By Jeremy Appel on August 29, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

A new instrument approved by the federal government to test saliva for roadside drug impairment is a step in the right direction, but there are still many unanswered questions, says Medicine Hat’s police chief.

“To say it’s primitive would be an understatement from what I’ve been hearing,” said Chief Andy McGrogan.

The device, known as the Draeger Drugtest 5000, uses a swab that is placed in the driver’s mouth for one-to-four minutes and then takes eight minutes to come up with a result.

This is compared with the two minutes it takes to get a reading on a breathalyzer test for alcohol, said McGrogan.

The instrument is also quite large, equal in size to a small backpack.

“Obviously, the testing equipment for alcohol has been around for 70, 80 years, so it’s a lot more refined,” he said.

The Draeger Drugtest detects cannabis, opiates, amphetamines, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines and cocaine.

One problem with the device is it merely detects the presence of drugs, without any accompanying measurement, so a suspect would have to go for further testing to determine their level of intoxication.

“In order to get an accurate sample, you have to take a blood sample, so this would give us reasonable grounds if there’s cannabis in the system to take the next step,” McGrogan said.

“The blood test is a whole other system we’re going to have to work out.”

The question of who will administer the blood test is without an answer thus far.

McGrogan suspects the force will have to contract that service out to medical professionals.

The device costs $5,100 per unit and McGrogan says the service would need at least two.

The strips it uses to test saliva are about $40 each, and police will need about 200 to start, he added.

“We’ve got no word on funding yet from provincial or federal sources,” said McGrogan. “Movement’s happening and things are moving in the right direction, but it’s still all unknown to us.”

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