The driver told San Diego police he had passed out in a mall parking lot and woke up to find his car crashed into a pole.
The officer who responded to the scene earlier this month noted that the driver displayed signs of impairment — dilated eyes, swaying back and forth, an elevated pulse, Sgt. Greg Minter said.
While the driver failed a field sobriety test, his breathalyzer test came back clean — no alcohol detected.
The driver admitted that he had smoked methamphetamine earlier in the day, the sergeant said. He agreed to be tested for drugs, a mouth swab right there in the field. The result: positive for methamphetamine.
That was among the first few times San Diego police used a device called SoToxa, which tests saliva to detect several types of drugs. It’s similar to a breathalyzer in that it’s a mobile, handheld device designed for quick results in the field. Giving a preliminary drug test to drivers in the field is “something that we haven’t been able to do before,” Minter said.
The swab with saliva is inserted into the machine to detect the presence of drugs. (Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Police, who have had the device since October, say it’s completely voluntary for a driver to take the test, and a refusal brings no consequences.
But, police say, it’s a quick way for a driver to show they have no drugs in their system. “If the officer thinks, well, there might be drugs on board and this comes back negative, then that’s probably going to put the officer’s mind at ease,” Minter said.
The device tests for cocaine, opiates, methamphetamine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines and THC, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, and registers either a positive or a negative result for each.
To draw a positive result on the SoToxa test, the drug must be present at or above a set level — 50 nanograms of meth, for example, or 25 nanograms of THC.
Where alcohol has a bright line — it is illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol content over 0.08% — there are no delineated limits for drug amounts for driving in California. Suspected impairment is determined by the driver’s actions. Whether they have drugs in their system, and just how much, is determined by a blood draw.
Other states do have limits — Colorado, for example, draws the line at 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood for THC in a driver’s system.
The device is used in 32 states nationwide. In California, nearly 100 agencies use it, including the La Mesa Police Department and now San Diego police.
San Diego police Officer Jennifer Gregory is a certified drug recognition expert, and she is assigned to carry the SoToxa device. She noted that for a suspected impaired driver, “there’s no limit that says, so long as you’re under 50 nanograms of meth, you’re good.”
“You could have used meth yesterday. It’s still in your system. You had impaired driving. You can still get arrested for that DUI drug, and I am still going to draw your blood,” she said.
The machine only alerts to a negative or positive result for a variety of drugs above a certain threshold. Whether a driver is impaired is a more complicated determination. (Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Drivers arrested on suspicion of drug impairment are required to submit to a blood test or face potential consequences from the Department of Motor Vehicles, such as suspension of their driver’s license. Those who refuse a blood draw also face the likelihood that the officer will seek a judicial warrant to draw their blood anyway.
San Diego police only provide the device to certified drug recognition experts, who say it’s a great tool, but also the last tool they reach for when evaluating a driver. Their go-to starting point is their training — conversing with the driver, giving a field sobriety test and taking a good look at the driver’s eyes.
“When I’m speaking to them, and I’m checking their eyes, and I can smell that there’s not that odor of alcoholic beverage, it may lead my suspicion to, hey, there might be something else on board,” said San Diego police Officer Anthony Bueno, who carries a device.
“I actually like to do my standardized field sobriety test first, get to see where the impairment’s at, and then ask them to perform either a breath test and/or the SoToxa,” Bueno said.
The drivers who agree to the SoToxa test are handed a swab to put in their mouths themselves, and they must keep rubbing around until the swab turns blue, indicating enough saliva is present to test.
The officer inserts that swab into the device, and the results pop up a few minutes later, with readings of positive or negative for all six drug types tested for. The result does not include a number indicating nanograms present — it’s just positive if it’s over the threshold number and negative if it is not.
A spokesperson for SoToxa maker Abbott Diagnostics told the Union-Tribune that the device was created to test for the active compound that indicates recent drug use. She also noted that SoToxa measures “the active presence of drugs in the person’s system, not the level of impairment.”
The company guarantees an accuracy rate of greater than 90% on the tests, she said. And following a positive read, the company recommends a secondary lab test to confirm the results.
San Diego police have five SoToxa devices. Minter said each ran about $5,000, and all were paid for with state grant money drawn from taxes collected on legal cannabis sales. Minter said he was tasked with looking into the detection devices after investigators noted an increase in fatal collisions involving drivers under the influence of drugs.
This year, through Oct. 29, the District Attorney’s Office charged 22 suspected DUI drivers involved in fatal crashes. Seven of them are suspected of being DUI from drugs alone or a combination of drugs and alcohol.
The office declined to discuss whether SoToxa results are admissible in court. Police said suspected drugged drivers undergo a blood draw.
