(Dayton Daily News) XENIA — In her years of administering drug tests to probationers Melissa Litteral has seen everything, from fake urine to prosthetic genitals, used to “beat the system.”
“When they get caught it’s another violation,” said the Greene County Adult director. It means her probation officers spend a lot of time on drug testing, more than 2,000 hours a year — almost the equivalent of one full-time position.
Litteral hopes a new drug test called Passpoint will drastically reduce the cost and man hours it takes to administer the tests. The new system from Streetime Technologies uses pupilometry, an eye test of pupil response to light to pre-screen for recent drug use, according to Litteral and John Diamond, a Streetime sales rep. Suspected violations are then verified with a urine test.
Last year, her department performed 5,000 drug tests at a cost of $20,000 and nearly 80 percent came back clean. Litteral hopes those probationers, who are following the rules, will be able to get through the system more quickly using the eye test and without the embarrassment of having to use the bathroom in front of someone.
“We want to get those people back to work,” Litteral said, so her officers can concentrate on those trying to “game the system.” She expects the new system will let the department perform tests more often on those who need it.
Do we REALLY need to measure this guy's pupils, chief?
So let’s see, Greene County, Ohio’s probation officers are spending one full-time man-year of time and $20,000 taxpayer dollars to discover that four out of five people on probation aren’t taking drugs?
As for the one in five dirty urinalyses, the most likely positive result, by far, is going to be for cannabis use, both because far more people use cannabis than any other illicit substance and because it takes so long to become undetectable in one’s system. If a probationer has issues with the hard drugs, those issues will manifest in ways that will be obvious to the probation officer without a urine test.
If this pupilometry is truly measuring recent drug use in a non-invasive way, it is certainly more fair to the cannabis consumer than a urine screen. But what other conditions might cause a person to screen positive on pupilometry and then be led back to the urine screen?
If Greene County, Ohio, really wants to “get those people back to work”, perhaps it should think about ending the prohibition on cannabis so responsible adult cannabis consumers can get back to work.
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i am a greene county probationer. here in ohio. what you do is look into a box like thing with what looks to be goggle pieces to keepout all light and give a good seal. you then haveto keep you eyes open for 15 seconds and have a set of led lights be flashed into your eyes theree times. screwup and you do it over again. i admit it is easer then dropping urine but atleast i can still see after the u.a is complete. it really sux and greene county is one of the most wasteful countys around. so its true that necesity is the mother of invention
Anybody know how far back this machine can find weed there web page says 2 days just wondering if anybody can back this up I got 9 more tests on this machine was wanting to smoke at least a joint or 2 a month
What about light conditions during the time of test. The pupils widens to receive more light and vice versa. Also various other causes are known like anxiety especially with prohibtion adding to the effect.
a test for actual IMPAIRMENT instead of evidence of marijuana use at some unspecified point in time? Finally, a test that doesn’t violate off site privacy. although “confirming it with urinalysis” is a bad idea. certain eyedrops can dilate pupils and if they see that and then test your pee and they find pot. you are screwed.
though it would just be easier to legalize the damn plant (again) once and for all.
I could write pages and pages about my opinions on the unethical practices of drug screening, or the superiority of performance testing for testing actual impairment – but might this at least be a step forward? If it’s testing for actual drug impairment instead of inactive metabolites I’d submit to one.
I wonder what sort of size this device is. If its small enough to be portable, as a breathalizer is, whats to keep the cops from flashin everyone’s eyes on principle on every traffic stop? In other words, might they ask you for your license, registration, and to look at the birdie?