SafeMedicine
The Safe Medicine Initiative is dedicated to developing comprehensive solutions to assist the medical marijuana industry in providing safe reliable medicine to Canadians. Developing Diagnostic tools and systems as well as providing screening services for licensed producers, we are leading the way to better implementation of safety procedures and policies nationwide.
A Problem
There are a number of problems regarding Impairments.
- Our Current techniques of determining impairments can be discriminating.
- Devices that are used lack the ability to accurately diagnose impairments caused by intoxicants other than alcohol.
- Fatigue alone accounts for 21 percent of all traffic accidents.
- Workplace injuries due to impairments cause industries to spend millions nationwide on urinalysis.
- Agencies both provincial and federal rely on court orders to obtain samples from clients.
- These tests take a lot of time, and do not address any immediate safety concerns. .
With the advancement of medical marijuana as well as the emergence of the recreational industry, Law enforcement agencies are limited to 'proof of existence' tests like blood or saliva tests. These tests can be bias against long time users or medical users who use CBD, a non intoxicating cannabinoid. Law enforcement also utilize SFST (Standard Field Sobriety testing) although this technique has resulted in many successful prosecutions, it does not protect the rights of responsible medical patients.
Recent studies out of Harvard University M.I.N.D program show that long time users, especially users since adolescence, show higher neurological functions while under the influence of cannabis. This does not mean users can drive or operate heavy machinery, but it does mean there is a difference between impairment and a positive test result. It could also provide a potential legal loophole to medical users that ARE impaired but may not always be.
Since current techniques only test for the presence of a substance, they are not useful in proving a persons actual impairment, but they may still be useful to provide a reason for a reported impairment
A Solution
The Safe Medicine Initiative is developing a Cognitive Abilities Test or CAT tool to determine the actual cognitive ability of any individual, regardless of intoxicant.
How it works:
A Battery of tests are completed by a subject by way of a tablet app. During the test, data from up to 10 different physical sensors is recorded. The results are run through a comparative database of stored test results. The CAT tool is designed to provide an accurate assessment of an individuals visual, auditory and cognitive acuity without being invasive or discriminating.
Limiting the reliance on human interpretation of physical symptoms like Drug Recognition Experts (DRE), and use of bodily fluid testing are primary goals of the CAT tool.