Teacher:In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: As cannabis bans are relaxed in more U.S. states, the race is on to develop an instant roadside breathalyzer for police to test drivers who may be taking the "high" road. 
  
 Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies Inc, founded by a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, expects to be first out of the gate with a "pot breathalyzer" - a handheld device similar to those used to detect alcohol. 
  
 Cannabix won't give an estimate of when its product might go on sale, but has a prototype undergoing in-house testing. 
  
 Other hopefuls, such as Colorado-based Lifeloc Technologies Inc and a chemistry professor-PhD student duo at Washington State University, are still busy in the lab. 
  
 The devices aim to accurately detect the presence of THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, but can't provide enough evidence of impairment by themselves. 
  
 "I think the first breathalyzer on the market will be a simple 'yes' or 'no' for the presence of THC at the time of the test, and in that sense it won't provide a quantitative evidential measure," said Barry Knott, the chief executive of Lifeloc, which already makes alcohol breathalyzers. 
  
 The size of the potential market is unclear, owing to widely varying estimates of cannabis use, and unreliable data on those driving under its influence. 
  
 But developers say they will be able to sell pot devices for a lot more than the ubiquitous alcohol breathalyzers. 
  
 Lifeloc sells alcohol breathalyzers for $300-$400 but expects to charge $2,500-$3,500 for its cannabis version. 
  
 Marijuana is illegal under U.S. federal law but is allowed for medical use in about half the country's states. Others, including Oregon and Colorado, have gone further, allowing recreational use. 
  
 Lifeloc shares, traded over the counter, have risen about 21 percent to $14.50 this year, while Cannabix's have risen about 21 percent to 17 Canadian cents on the small-cap Canadian Securities Exchange. 
  
 A roadside breathalyzer would replace a complicated assortment of costly blood and urine tests that can take days to get a result. But even these tests are a long way from showing impairment, as the science on how cannabis affects driving is far from settled. 
  
 HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? 
  
 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in a paper this year, said cannabis impairs psychomotor skills, attention, lane tracking and cognitive function, but not enough is known about how much is needed to affect driving performance. 
  
 This is primarily because of the vastly different ways in which alcohol and cannabis affect the human body. 
  
 Whether marijuana is smoked or ingested also dramatically changes how the body processes it. It's also difficult to isolate the affects of cannabis in crashes if drivers have also consumed alcohol and/or other drugs. 
  
 But some states are not waiting to reach a consensus on how much THC is too much to drive. 
  
 Washington and Montana have set a limit of 5 nanograms/milliliter (ng/mL), while Pennsylvania has a 1 ng/mL limit. 
  
 Other states prohibit drivers from having any measurable amount of cannabis in their system. 
  
 These limits are more political than based on science, said Nicholas Lovrich, a political scientist at Washington State University who is researching the accuracy of drug-recognition experts - police officers trained to detect drug impairment in drivers. 
  
 Cannabix founder Kal Malhi initially aims to cater to Canada and the U.S. states that have zero tolerance for THC, hoping his device - designed to confirm police observations - will be able to accurately detect THC up to two hours after consumption. 
  
 The company won't talk about its technology, other than to say a patent is pending. Aside from law enforcement, Malhi sees employers and educational institutions as potential customers. 
  
 Lifeloc's research has been boosted by a $250,000 grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. 
  
 The company has undertaken laboratory tests of its technology, but creating a real-time device that can collect enough sample for reasonable analysis is proving a challenge. 
  
 A few blows are typically sufficient to determine alcohol levels, Knott said. "... With a marijuana breathalyzer we'd have somebody blowing like 20 times - that's just not going to fly." 
  
 Washington State University is also still in the research stage, as part of a project applying existing technology - ion mobility spectrometry - to drug testing, including cannabis. 
  
 "(This) is the same technology used for explosive detection at airports, the same technology used across the world for chemical warfare detection," said Dr. Herbert Hill, who is working on the research with student Jessica Tufariello. 
  
 However, the likely inability of these devices to accurately detect levels of THC - at least initially - raises the question of whether law enforcement agencies will clamor to buy them. 
  
 "If this is just a matter of showing how many people have THC in their systems, then it's essentially useless," said Steve Sarich, who runs a cannabis advocacy group and serves as an expert witness for cases involving THC-related impairment. 
  
 (Editing by Rodney Joyce and Ted Kerr) ||||| With the growing popularity of marijuana — both medical and recreational — it was inevitable that demand for a device that can accurately measure the level of THC in an individual’s system has risen as well. 
  
 Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies Inc. hopes to be the first of several companies developing a THC breathalyzer to have its product hit the markets. According to the company, the device is based on breath testing technology that will be able to identify recent consumption of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive element of cannabis. 
  
 Other hopefuls in the race to create a THC breathalyzer include Lifeloc Technologies Inc and a Washington State Ph.D. student and professor combo. 
  
 "I think the first breathalyzer on the market will be a simple 'yes' or 'no' for the presence of THC at the time of the test, and in that sense it won't provide a quantitative evidential measure," Barry Knott, the chief executive of Lifeloc, which already makes alcohol breathalyzers, told Reuters. 
  
 Cannabix does not say when its product might go on sale but has stated that in-house testing is being conducted and a patent is pending. 
  
 A marijuana breathalyzer would replace cumbersome blood and urine tests that are currently the only option to determine if an individual has THC in their system. The tests may have a long way to go before they’re practical for use, though, since the science and reasoning behind how cannabis affects driving is far from established. 
  
 What Qualifies As Intoxicated? Alcohol Vs. Marijuana 
  
 The first law to prohibit drinking and driving was adopted by New York state in 1910, with other states quickly following suit. These early DUI laws simply outlawed drunk driving — without any set definition or level to clarify what qualified as “intoxicated.” The first commonly-used legal limit for blood alcohol concentration was named 0.15 in 1938, and was only lowered to 0.08 federally in the year 2000. Since then, alcohol-related driving accidents and fatalities have consistently declined. 
  
 The consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol have been publicized, and are well-known to the general populace. Somewhat less apparent is that all 50 states have laws prohibiting the operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana. That’s about where the national generalizations end, though, since what it means to be “under the influence” varies state-to-state. 
  
 In some states, any amount of marijuana is considered under the influence, and punishable by law. In others, drivers above a certain blood or urine concentration sample will be considered under the influence. A smaller minority of states require the prosecutor to prove the driver was under the influence using behavior or driving as evidence, regardless of the amount of THC in their system. 
  
 According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, marijuana impairs judgment, cognitive function, and attention, but not enough is known yet about exactly how much is needed to impair driving abilities. Some states are not waiting for a definitive answer. Washington and Montana have set a limit of 5 nanograms/milliliter of THC in the blood as a limit, while Pennsylvania has a 1 ng/mL limit. 
  
 Even if Cannabix’s breathalyzer hits the market, there are still several outstanding issues with the idea of a Marijuana breathalyzer. Firstly, marijuana has been shown to remain in the bloodstream for weeks, or even a month after use. Though the device is promised to detect drivers “intoxicated” by marijuana, it is unclear how the breathalyzer will differentiate between recently smoked cannabis and THC leftover from a past encounter with marijuana. 
  
 In terms of threshold for intoxication, the breathalyzer would be unable to differentiate between those who have a small amount of THC in their bloodstream and a large amount. A breathalyzer that was unable to tell the difference between a driver that had one beer and a driver that had eight would be rather useless in law enforcement today, but it remains to be seen how a THC breathalyzer will fit into the picture. ||||| "I think the first breathalyzer on the market will be a simple 'yes' or 'no' for the presence of THC at the time of the test, and in that sense it won't provide a quantitative evidential measure," Barry Knott, the chief executive of Lifeloc, which already makes alcohol breathalyzers, told Reuters. That's cool and all, except existing DWI for cannabis tests -- both urine and blood analysis -- already do this with greater accuracy. There's also the issue with THC's fat-soluble nature that allows it to remain in the user's bloodstream for up to a month after ingestion. Having a device that only says "yes" or "no" doesn't actually add any value to the police officer's investigation when the machine's determination could be based on biomarkers more than a fortnight old. Granted, the Cannabix device is reportedly designed to detect THC up to two hours after it's been smoked but there's no word on how (or whether) it will work for ingested or vaporized cannabis. In fact, the company has been rather tight lipped in general about how the device operates, save for pointing out that it is patent pending. 
  
 Then there's the whole mess of differing levels of impairment between states. In Washington and Montana 5 nanograms/milliliter (ng/mL) of THC counts as "too stoned to drive." In Pennsylvania, that limit is 1 ng/mL. And as Nicholas Lovrich, a political scientist at Washington State University, told Reuters, these limits are based more on politics than on science. So until both the science and policy surrounding cannabis advance beyond their present states, don't expect these devices to be entered into evidence in your DUI case anytime soon (unlike that Mass Roots post of you hotboxing the car 20 minutes before getting pulled over). 
  
 [Image Credit: Getty Images] |||||
Student:
The race toward the legalization of marijuana has set off another inevitable race: one to be first on the market with a handheld breathalyzer for pot. Reuters reports that Canadian company Cannabix will be the likely winner, given that it has a prototype device now being tested that can detect the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Another contender is Lifeloc, based in Colorado, whose chief executive cautions that the first versions of these devices will be relatively primitive. "I think the first breathalyzer on the market will be a simple 'yes' or 'no' for the presence of THC at the time of the test, and in that sense it won't provide a quantitative evidential measure," says Barry Knott. In other words, the devices will be able to tell a police officer if you've got marijuana in your system, but not if you're actually impaired. Medical Daily notes that "not enough is known yet about exactly how much is needed to impair driving abilities," and thus there's much confusion and inconsistency among states trying to impose such laws. (Washington and Montana, for instance, have set a 5 nanograms/milliliter limit for drivers; in other states, the limit is zero.) Engadget echoes that, predicting that "until both the science and policy surrounding cannabis advance beyond their present states, don't expect these devices to be entered into evidence in your DUI case anytime soon." Still, the market is clearly there: Lifeloc, for example, thinks it will be able to sell its first models for about $3,000, about 10 times the price of its alcohol breathalyzers. The companies declined to say when their products might be ready for market. (Also, it seems that marijuana can help heal broken bones.)