A Montana-based company called Gaize has developed a device which can scan the user’s eye and utilize crazy futuristic robot intelligence to detect THC impairment.

According to the company’s founder, Ken Fichtler, American law enforcement agencies have already agreed to use the technology, though he could not specify which ones. 

“I’ll preface all of this by saying I am pro cannabis. I’m pro cannabis legalization. I’m doing this because I see a distinct need at the federal level to have some product to detect impairment so we can keep roads safe,” Fichtler said.

It is similar to a kind of virtual reality headset that police officers would place on the heads of drivers suspected of using marijuana. It shrouds the suspect in darkness for a few moments before shining a bright light to electronically scan the movement of the suspect’s eyeballs.

“The eyes are the window to the soul. Eyes can give a remarkable picture of the mental health and condition of an individual. They’re full of involuntary micro-movements and reflex responses that transmit information about someone’s impairment or sobriety,” the Gaize website states.

Fichtler states that while the scan is not admissible as evidence in court (much like traditional breathalyzers), it can be used by police officers in the field when they suspect someone of being high to either remove or correct their bias. Although Gaize is not able to quantify impairment as a traditional breathalyzer, it can indicate whether the individual has been intoxicated enough to cause their eyes to react differently to stimuli than normal.

“You can’t simply measure THC and say, ‘Yeah, okay, this guy’s high because he’s got five nanograms of THC in his body,’ right? It just doesn’t work that way,” Fichtler said. “What we’re doing is actually directly measuring how impairment manifests in the body, which I think is a much more rational, measured and fair path forward.”

Fichtler stated that the test was based upon several studies over the past 40 years. This includes a clinical trial Gaize did with 350 participants. A cursory search of “how cannabis affects eye movement” does indeed show several peer-reviewed studies on the matter dating back to at least 1979. As with most scientific studies there’s a lot of room for misinterpretation or error but try as I might I could not find much to dispute the science behind this technology. The truth is that eyeballs can be sold to stoners at all costs.

“There’s a lot of changes that happen and a lot of them happen at a scale that a human couldn’t necessarily see unless they were looking really close or even using a magnifying glass or something. Our product is sensitive enough that we can detect these really minute changes,” Fichtler said.

While Fichtler stated that Gaize won’t be selling technology for illegal purposes, it is possible to find yourself in the bright light from a Gaize headset if your job requires you to work dangerously or commute long hours. 

Fichtler was not able to provide Chronic News with an estimated date that law enforcement agencies might begin to roll out the use of these headsets but for what it’s worth he seemed to speak with the voice of a man who had signed one or more non-disclosure agreements, rather than a man waiting for orders to start coming in.

“It’s being evaluated by some really high profile departments,” Fichtler said. “They haven’t all adopted it yet, but some have. My hope is that within a couple of years, maybe this is sort of standard practice.”