Race Day Live This past summer, the Ohio State Highway Patrol introduced a new way to check if drivers are under the influence of marijuana.
The new method involves an oral fluid test, which is done by swabbing the inside of a person’s mouth on the spot.
Captain Christopher Kinn, the Executive Officer for the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Office of Field Operations, explained that this method works because drugs in the bloodstream can be detected in oral fluid.
He said, “As long as the drug is active in someone’s bloodstream, it shows up in their oral fluid.” This is because there are many blood vessels in the mouth, which allows the fluid to pick up traces of the drug.
Once the test is done, the sample is sent to a lab for further verification. Kinn mentioned that this method is more efficient and less invasive compared to others.
Traditionally, breathalyzers are used to check for alcohol, but they can’t detect drugs. This means officers have to rely on other methods like blood or urine tests, which have their challenges.
Blood tests, for example, require taking someone to a hospital to get the sample. Urine tests can also be tricky since, for example, male officers cannot collect a urine sample from a female driver.
Despite marijuana being legal for recreational use in Ohio, Kinn made it clear that this new testing method was not created because of the legalization. “This had been in the works long before any of this. It’s about safety,” he said.
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The oral fluid test will only be used when there is “probable cause” based on field sobriety tests and the behavior of the driver.
Kinn emphasized that troopers won’t randomly pull over drivers to take this test, but only when they have enough reason to believe a driver might be impaired.
Once the sample is collected, it takes about 30 to 45 days to get the results from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s toxicology lab in Columbus.
The program is still in its pilot phase and will last for several months. During this time, the results will be reviewed to determine if this new testing method will be used long-term.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is focusing on improving safety on the roads with this new method, ensuring that drivers are not impaired and that everyone stays safe.
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