There is an old saying “The eyes don’t lie.” Law enforcement is betting on that.  They say the eyes are the windows to the soul but are they the window to what you did at the party Saturday night.  That is the important question!

There is a new method of drug screening and it involves testing the eye’s pupil response time to light based on a previous pre-screen test time to light.  This is called pupilometry.

It is quick and if there is a suspected violation, then the person will be subjected to a urinalysis.

Used mainly for probation purposes, eye drug screening is quicker and may be able to save the taxpayers a lot of money in the long run.  Today, when someone reports to their probation officer, a urine test is conducted at an estimated fifteen to seventy five dollars per test.  The majority of those tests come back clean because, let’s face it, who wants to fail a probation drug test and possibly face jail time.  These people keep their nose clean.  It’s those people who try to get over on the drug test or just can’t stop using who will get caught.

The machine used for eye testing consists of a set of goggles that are hooked up to a computer that measures the pupil size and reaction to light. The subject will submit to an initial test to establish a baseline measurement that all future measurements will be compared to.  If the subject’s pupils are more dilated or react slower than the baseline measurement then the person is considered testing positive and will be subjected to more extensive testing.

The eye test can only detect impairment, not which substance is causing the impairment or if the impairment is caused by a lack of sleep.

The test itself should only take about ninety seconds but it can be helpful in industries that require strict safety measures such as airlines, commercial driving, construction and railroad engineers.