Akron grad students invent device to detect marijuana use
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Two graduate students have invented a device that would allow law enforcement officers to determine how much THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — is in a motorist’s system during traffic stops.
The Plain Dealer reports that two biomedical engineering graduate students at the University of Akron hope to market their roadside testing device to states where marijuana use has been legalized.
Mariam Crow and Kathleen Stitzlein’s device tests saliva to determine the concentration of pot’s active chemical in the bloodstream. Police must now wait weeks to get results from blood tests for marijuana use.
The two women recently received a $10,000 inventors’ award. They previously received Ohio Third Frontier funding to develop their device, which they are calling the “Cannibuster.”