Regina police to receive new, portable drug-screening device

Regina police are getting a new roadside drug-screening device to detect the use of marijuana.

The SoToxa Mobile Test System is expected to be used in tandem with other field sobriety instruments like the breathalyzer for drunk driving.

“My understanding is it’s fairly similar. It’s much more portable, it’s smaller, it’s easier for our officers to access and take out to the scene,” Chief Evan Bray said after the Board of Police Commissioners meeting Wednesday.

The SoToxa will be the second drug-testing device for marijuana to be used by Regina police, who received the Drager 5000 in January. Police received only one of these much larger machines and have been using it mostly in special occasions like stop checks due its lack of portability.

Bray said Regina police have used the Drager device just once since getting it.

The two drug-screening devices work very similarly, taking an oral sample and testing it for the presence of marijuana. They do not show the level of impairment.

Bray said the new device does not provide instant results like a breathalyzer while the manufacturer’s website states it provides test results in “minutes.”

Bray said the SoToxa will be another instrument to help in the process to detect marijuana impairment. He believes the technology is still evolving and there are better drug-testing machines to come in the near future.

“When we got the Drager, I made the joke that it’s about the size of a Keurig coffee maker,” said Bray. “It’s not going to be long before technology is going to take us to a place where we have something much more portable and I would suggest this new device that we have will be outdated in a year or two from now as well.”

These devices are often just the first step used on the frontline in a rigorous, scientific process used to catch drug-impaired drivers in Saskatchewan. Regina police have 14 Drug Recognition Experts (DRE), which Bray said are still the best way to detect cannabis impairment.

“We can’t ever neglect to focus on the fact that the officer training that our officers have with regard to drug impairment is really still one of the best ways for us to understand if someone is displaying signs and have reasonable grounds to believe that they have drug in their system and that that is impairing their ability to drive a vehicle,” said Bray.

Regina police don’t know yet when the new SoToxa devices will arrive or how many the police service will receive.

Bray noted the police haven’t laid any charges specifically for driving while impaired by marijuana since cannabis was legalized in October of 2018.