Pseudoscience and the Detection of Marijuana-Based Impairment: We Can and Must Do Better

Existing tools for making workplace and roadside determinations of marijuana-based impairment are inadequate. They either merely imitate tools used to identify alcohol-based impairment without taking into account important differences between the effects of these molecules or they are pseudoscientific "police science." Legalization of marijuana use must be accompanied by urgent efforts and dedicated funding for the development and implementation of practical, accurate, and objective methods for on-the-spot determination of whether a person is dangerously impaired by marijuana. The substance-use science community must take the lead in formulating an informed marijuana impairment detection policy, rather than leave this in the hands of law enforcement.