Roadside saliva testing devices that detect cannabis could be in the hands of NWT officers by next month but a study shows cold weather lowers the devices effectiveness and drives up drug positive results.

Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould signalled her approval of the German-manufactured device late last month.

The approval comes as Canada prepares for the legalization of cannabis Oct. 17.

The Draeger DrugTest 5000 detects the presence of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis but cannot reliably measure a driver's level of impairment the same way a blood-alcohol test indicates alcohol impairment, said Doug Beirness, senior research associate and driving impairment expert for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in an interview with News/North.

SA国际影视传媒淚 don't think we should hang our hat on the screeners,SA国际影视传媒� said Beirness. SA国际影视传媒淚t's one more thing the police have available to them to test a possible criminal offence but we shouldn't rely on it solely,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

Police have roadside standardized tests and drug recognition experts who are able to assess a driver's impairment, he said.

The number of these experts in the territory fluctuate with transfer of officers, retirements or officers who do not re-certify for various reasons, stated spokesperson Marie York-Condon in an e-mail.

The territory's sends officers for training SA国际影视传媒渁t every opportunitySA国际影视传媒� and will continue to do so, she wrote.

Public Safety Canada announced $81 million in law enforcement training to teach to identify impaired drivers through the drug recognition expert evaluations.

Nationally, the are creating an online training module with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Canadian Police Knowledge Network to give access to this training to all Canadian law enforcement, she said.

The mandatory training program will be used by NWT Mounties to ensure officers can detect drug-impaired driving, said York-Condon.

That includes a standardized test to determine whether an individual is affected by alcohol or drugs.

The device pilot for saliva testing recommended provinces and territories SA国际影视传媒渞eview their officers' authorities to detain a suspect during the oral fluid analysis process,SA国际影视传媒� particularly after suspicion on reasonable grounds, the final report states.

It also recommends additional measures to keep the device and swabs at correct operating temperatures in places with extreme temperature conditions.

While 64 per cent of tests in the pilot were conducted outside of the manufacturer's suggested operating temperatures for cartridges, they returned 80 per cent of the positive results.

The manufacturer recommends operating temperatures between 5 and 25 C for the cartridges and between -20 and -45 C for the devices themselves.

In SA国际影视传媒渆xtreme cold temperatures ... tests conducted outside of suggested operating temperatures were more likely to produce drug-positive results,SA国际影视传媒� and further research on the devices' reliability is merited, states the public safety website.

The GNWT departments of infrastructure and justice were unable to respond to questions about how it will legislate on detection devices as of press deadline. The GNWT also did not respond by press time to questions about what threshold would permit an officer to detain a driver.

Drug screening equipment

The territorial legislation mentions drug screening equipment but limits its scope to forcing a person who is found to have a drug present, or fails to comply with a test, to surrender their driving licence.

Failure to follow an officer's directions will result in a 30-day suspension for drivers under the age of 22 and a three-day suspension for commercial operators.

Beirness said it remains to be seen how the drug testing devices work in stopping drugged driving.

SA国际影视传媒淭he fluid screening devices, one of which is about to be approved for use, will assist officers at the side of the road in determining whether or not a driver tests positive,SA国际影视传媒� he said, adding an officer must have a suspicion the driver has a drug in their body.

SA国际影视传媒淚f they test positive, it will allow the officer to investigate further, including a blood test. How that's all going to play out hasn't really been determined yet. It's new, it's novel its different,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

For all the reasons above, the matter is bound to reach the justice system for clarification, said Beirness.

SA国际影视传媒淭here will be court challenges, no doubt, and that's kind of necessary,SA国际影视传媒� said Beirness.

Governments will need to establish how long an officer can keep a person by the roadside before consulting with a lawyer, where there are many precedents for alcohol, said Beirness.

SA国际影视传媒淲ith cannabis, there will be a per se law that says if you're above a certain level of THC in your blood, you have committed an offence,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

However, THC levels don't correlate as accurately to impairment as blood-alcohol levels.

Under the new impaired driving legislation under Bill C-46, impairment need not be proven, said Beirness.

SA国际影视传媒淭he law says if you have a (blood-alcohol level) over 80, you've committed an offence. The same will be true for cannabis.SA国际影视传媒�

A person can be impaired long after falling below cannabis levels established in legislation, he said.

SA国际影视传媒淭here seems to be no direct level of correlation between THC levels in the blood and impairment,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

Law enforcement should fall back on its existing methods of testing impairment: observing a driver and their behaviour at the roadside, said Beirness.