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Enhancing the Standardized Field Sobriety Test to detect cannabis impairment: An observational study
Douglas J Beirness1, D'Arcy Smith2, Jeff R Brubacher3
1Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Traffic Injury Prevention
|October 10, 2023
Summary
Adding the Finger-to-Nose test and head movement observations to the Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) significantly improved the detection of cannabis-impaired drivers. This enhancement increases the sensitivity of impairment detection in individuals affected by cannabis.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Science
- Neuroscience
- Public Health
Background:
- Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) is used to identify impaired drivers.
- Cannabis use can impair driving abilities, necessitating sensitive detection methods.
- Existing SFST may not fully capture impairment from cannabis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate additional tests for enhancing SFST sensitivity in detecting cannabis-impaired drivers.
- To identify specific tests and observations that improve upon current impairment detection methods.
Main Methods:
- Observational study involving participants using cannabis.
- Administered SFST, Modified Romberg Balance, and Finger to Nose (FTN) tests.
- Assessed physiological indicators and vital signs post-cannabis use.
Main Results:
- After cannabis use, participants showed performance deficits.
- 67% of participants met SFST impairment criteria.
- Adding FTN and head movement/jerk observations increased impairment detection sensitivity from 0.67 to 0.88.
Conclusions:
- Supplementing SFST with FTN and head movement/jerk observations can aid in detecting cannabis-impaired drivers.
- Study design limitations include lack of blinding and observational nature.
- Further research, including randomized trials and field studies, is needed for validation.
