Police to introduce student-developed cannabis screening device by Guard-Ex

 Guard-Ex Team, from left, to right: Rahul Malhotra, Harmeet Chauhan, Dastiger Khan, Marwan Mohamed, Baltej Sandhu

This spring, drivers in Ontario will start seeing — and might even be asked to try on — a new device being piloted by five regional police forces to screen for impairment.

The device, created by the team at Guard-Ex and developed through the Schlegel Centre’s LaunchPad Incubator, is being touted as a much-needed tool for public safety since Canada legalized cannabis. What has people excited — to the tune of a $1 million investment secured in February 2019 — is that the device screens for real-time impairment, not consumption.

All people metabolize drugs and alcohol differently. A driver who tests positive for cannabis through a traditional breathalyzer may not be impaired. Even the best roadside screening devices in use today, including those measuring alcohol consumption, only determine how much of a substance is present. The Guard-Ex device is different because it screens for impairment directly.

The four founders, Dastiger Khan (Economics student at University of Waterloo), Harmeet Chauhan (student at WLU), Rahul Malhotra (Science student at WLU), and Baltej Sandhu (WLU BBA ’18) launched Guard-Ex in 2017. The device measures eye movement, body temperature, and heart activity. These indicators have been scientifically proven to correlate with impairment, however are currently measured manually by police officers. The Guard-Ex device will analyze these physiological indicators using machine learning to remove the human bias. Members of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) are calling it an “amazing made-in-Ontario innovation.”

"Considering that impaired driving remains a leading criminal cause of death in Canada, there is a strong incentive to both enforce and deter impaired driving on our roadways," said Bryan Larkin, Chief of Waterloo Regional Police. "I am very excited by the Guard-Ex team and their passionate commitment to the modernization of roadside impairment screening. They are poised to become another shining example of a Waterloo Region-based company that seeks to leverage cutting-edge technology, creative innovation and community collaboration to help improve safety and well-being in our society."

The police chiefs are not alone in their enthusiasm — so are investors. Robert Schlegel (BA ’72) invested $1 million in the company.

 Founders of Guard-Ex with Chief Bryan Larkin and Executive Officer Mark Crowell from the Waterloo Regional Police Service

“When I first heard about Guard-Ex, I was intrigued by the concept,” Schlegel said. “Everything else out there requires a blood test and that doesn’t prove impairment.”

As namesake of the Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation, Schlegel has always paid attention to student entrepreneurs. Having said that, in 20 years of association, this is Schlegel’s first investment in a company being developed through the Centre.

He made up his mind after meeting the students behind Guard-Ex.

“They were the most energetic guys I had ever seen there,” Schlegel said. “Laura (Allan) really wanted me to meet them and I quickly saw why.”

Allan is the Executive Director of the Schlegel Centre and a champion of the LaunchPad Incubator. She said she’s thrilled by the investment.

“These students are hustlers, and I mean that in the best possible way,” she said. “They had a business running parties, and they would see people leaving and getting behind the wheel who looked drunk or impaired. They thought, ‘this has to be fixed’ and they’re passionate about finding a solution.”

To fund research and development of the Guard-Ex device the students were willing to take on dragons — literally. The day after cannabis was legalized in Canada, they went on CBC’s Dragon’s Den to ask some of Canada’s toughest and smartest investors for $100,000. Seeing potential, the Dragons went higher. They instead offered $300,000 for 15 per cent of Guard-Ex. Then it got better. Following their appearance on the reality TV show, Schlegel offered to top up the investment to $500,000 and it started to look like Guard-Ex had its partners set for the journey toward commercialization.

That’s when the team had to make its toughest early choice. Off-camera, the Dragons were making a lot of demands.

“So, we backed out,” Chauhan said.

To make up for the gap in funding, they approached Schlegel for support. He offered to do much more — he raised his investment to $1 million.

To Schlegel, the Guard-Ex device is well aligned with personal principles.

“The tagline in my emails used to be, ‘safety first, then quality, then quantity,’” he said. “This is a product that’s going to improve safety.”

That line of thinking has Challenger Motor Freight Inc., a Cambridge, Ont.-based trucking company founded by Dan Einwechter (BBA '77) exploring usage of the Guard-Ex device to combat driver fatigue. Given that the product screens for impairment, it can help prevent drivers falling asleep at the wheel, which is yet another customer segment for commercialization.

 Founders of Guard-Ex and the team at Challenger Motor Freight Inc.

“A lot of startups in Canada don’t aim to be the next Facebook or Google,” said Khan. “They aim to be bought out by them. We’re not doing that. We want to get to the top.”

Allan said the students are on the right road.

“This isn’t just an idea that’s financially great, it’s helping solve a crucial social problem,” she said. “The response they’ve gotten from police chiefs, police forces, politicians and private companies has been unanimous.”

Sandhu said five police forces will be testing the device starting in April 2019. “Simultaneously, we will be conducting lab studies with Dr. Jeffery Jones, Director of the Laurier Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience,” added Malhotra.

“That’ll be the real acid test,” Schlegel said. “The results will help calibrate the device.” And then it’s all systems go – the team is excited to get the device in use to improve safety on the roads.