Zentrela Cognalyzer – brain scanning technology to detect cannabis impairments

There is a problem with cannabis impairment. Law enforcement agencies want to curb cannabis use at the wheel, but this has put medicinal cannabis patients into legal proceedings to fight for their freedom. Zentrela hopes her Cognalyzer will correct false positives by scanning your brain, but is her EEG-based device responsible for these medical cannabis patients?

Discover cannabis by the roadside

Currently, a police officer’s ability to test a driver’s perception and level of impairment from cannabis use is entirely subjective. Otherwise, they will have to rely on poor saliva and blood samples that fail to analyze actual cannabis use. The overriding goal of Zentrela is the introduction of neurotechnology in workplaces and in investigations into cannabis impairment.

They plan to compliment law enforcement agencies or even employers on the oral fluid tests instead of replacing their pre-existing results. Basically, a cop doesn’t scan anyone’s brains on the roadside. The Zentrela roadside cognalyzer is in the station after an arrest for failing an initial oral fluid test (or a standard field sobriety test) to ensure there are no false positives.

We suggest that the most objective and accurate way to determine if an employee or driver is high is to identify recent cannabis use with a saliva test and then compare that result to our brainwave test. To see if that person is still experiencing the psychoactive effects, in other words, whether that person is high or not.

Israel

Israel Gasperin, CEO and founder of Zentrela.

Is the brainwave test in close proximity?

The test is intended to help differentiate between a positive saliva test based on a person’s perception and when the person only has a detectable amount of THC from using cannabis a few hours or days ago. Zentrela published a peer-reviewed study in Advances in Therapy detailing the use of this technology. (1) However, for reasons beyond their control, they did not include chronic users (both medical and heavier users) in the study. There are a few other variables worth mentioning as well.

The effectiveness of the Zentrela cognalyzer and oral fluid tests varies at different limit values. Justice Canada uses a 25 ng / mL limit for oral fluid to reduce the chance of false positives. At this cutoff, oral fluid alone produces false positive results almost half of the time. While both tests together gave a false positive result four hours after cannabis use in 14.6% of the cases.

Zentrela Chief Communication Officer Roy Agostino explained the economic viability of the Cognalyzer and its readiness for law enforcement and jobs, and indicated that it would require judicial approval.

Under optimal conditions, the results of the study are positive. To ensure these results, however, Israel hopes that jurisdictions will dovetail new regulations with their technological interface.

The last laboratory-based analysis that the CRO [contract research association] a cutoff of 2 ng / ml was used. This study is the first of many additional investigations [projects] the regulators or policy makers [clearly decide] on the cutoff value for saliva tests and the new cutoff value from our brainwave analysis.

Israel

The time it takes to assess a user’s level of impairment during a saliva test was a sensitive issue for our resident breakdown attorney Sarah Leamon.

I wondered if they could improve on the two and a half minute collection period used in their study. The CSO of Zentrela, Dr. Dan Bosnyak, agreed with this answer.

We experimented with different collection periods. We chose two and a half minutes at random. But we experimented with the algorithm in shorter periods of time, even a minute. We need 25 second segments to [decide]but it has to be good segments … we could certainly work towards reducing that time.

DR. Bosnian

A subject that has more to do with ethics than cannabis cravings

In this first study, Zentrela focused on regular users, with the exception of one medical patient. Israel noted that the reason for excluding new cannabis users was a problem with certain negative side effects that new users can deal with after using THC.

One of the reasons we didn’t look into chronic users is because the ethics committee didn’t want us to test for a potential cannabis use disorder. It’s kind of silly because they’re going to be using cannabis anyway … So we’ve eliminated people who smoke too much to conform to this ethical guide.

DR. Bosynak

DR. Dan Bosnyak

In the Zentrela study, participants did not have to consume cannabis for 48 hours. When asked whether the abstinence period could have resulted in restrictions due to possible withdrawal symptoms, Dr. Bosnyak different.

We didn’t use chronic consumers more or less consciously.

DR. Bosnian

Chronic use and the cerebellum – the biggest hurdle of the cognalyzer

Consistent cannabis use can cause the brain and endocannabinoid system to adapt to larger doses of cannabinoids, especially THC. Chronic cannabis users and medical patients will get used to THC over time and experience less loss of balance than casual users. (2)

But are these temporary changes causing a problem with the brain scan?

We don’t have an answer – yet. Zentrela works with chronic users for our model for measuring psychoactive effects in the laboratory. We actually have a calibration procedure that allows us to take the known undisturbed user and then calculate the algorithm accordingly. Obviously, this doesn’t work for law enforcement where you have a pre-cannabis use standard.

It is likely that we could create a classifier that would essentially identify whether or not a person is a chronic user. Then apply a different algorithm if they seem to fit a different chronic user pattern. I think that would be a good direction.

But you are absolutely right that chronic users are the main problem with driving disabilities.

DR. Bosnian

Are two tests better than one?

I wanted to know if certain people could be naturally high. Dr. Bosnyak agreed that it can, and one more reason why their brainwave test is based on the addition of a serological sample. The EEG alone is less reliable.

Our test is not final as it still gives 15 percent false positive results. There are definitely people who have not had recent cannabis use who have tested positive.

For some reason, the results of our test are significant [more] regardless of the results of the saliva test – at least partially. By combining the two together, you will greatly reduce the chance of a false positive. We showed that in our publication.

DR. Bosynak

Are you ready to scan your brain?

So it seems that the Zentrela Cognalyzer is well suited for situations where zero tolerance limits are required and to ensure that false positives do not occur. For example, an employee in New Jersey was recently laid off after undergoing a serological drug test that inevitably showed THC in his system because it was consumed during his spare time. (3) Meanwhile, Amazon announced that it would stop testing US employees for cannabis use. (4)

Beyond workplaces, neurotechnological interfaces could find a better role in research than on the roadside. Perhaps one day we can prove that cannabis impairment is no more serious than stress, and we can get rid of roadside impairment detection with good science. (5, 6)

A headset for cannabis research

Different strains of cannabis produce different effects, and different terpenes produce a hypothetical entourage effect. However, this effect is only a theory and is not based on objective data for the consumer. Zentrela hopes that their neurotechnology technology can add data to help consumers learn what kind of psychoactive effects each cannabis product can produce for them.

Israel suspects that Health Canada does not allow compliance attributes due to limited scientific and clinical data on various cannabis products.

The nanoemulsification technology used in THC beverages or edibles is known to affect potency … It is a bit inaccurate and misleading for consumers to choose a cannabis product based on THC potency.

Israel

End of the call.

Let us know in the comments if you think brain scans are more or less invasive than blood tests. Do you think the Zentrela Cognalyzer’s detection of cannabis impairment is workable or is roadside stress a much worse outcome?

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1. McDonald, AC, Gasperin Haaz, I., Qi, W. et al. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of a new type of EEG-based objective test, the Cognalyzer®, in the detection of psychoactive effects of cannabis. Adv Ther 38: 2513-2531 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12325-021-01718-6
2. Stella N. (2013). Chronic THC intake alters basic cerebellar functions. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 123 (8), 3208-3210. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI70226
3. Amanada Hoover. June 2021. A NJ medical marijuana patient is discharged for using cannabis in his spare time, lawsuit alleges. NJ.
4. Dave Clark. June 2021. Update on our vision to be the best employer in the world and the safest workplace in the world. Amazon.
5. Hostiuc, S., Moldoveanu, A., Negoi, I., & Drima, E. (2018). The Association of Adverse Traffic Events and Cannabis Use: A Meta-Analysis. Limits in Pharmacology, 9, 99.https: //doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.00099
6. Hostiuc, S., Moldoveanu, A., Negoi, I., & Drima, E. (2018). The Association of Adverse Traffic Events and Cannabis Use: A Meta-Analysis. Limits in Pharmacology, 9, 99.https: //doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.00099