OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hound Labs, Inc., a health technology company specializing in point-of-care solutions, announced today the hiring of Larry White, a leading expert in employment screening and drug testing. He will join the Company as Executive Vice President of Operations and Administration to help Hound Labs bring its flagship HOUND® MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER to market.
White, the former President and Chief Operating Officer of leading employment screening and drug testing provider Employment Background Investigations, Inc. (EBI), has 20 years of experience in the employment screening industry. He has personally directed 11 separate acquisitions and has played a key role in the creation of new products and services while successfully implementing sales strategies. White’s expertise will help to enhance the suite of solutions Hound Labs has developed to accommodate both employers’ and employees’ desire for Safety + Fairness™ in the workplace.
“As the wave of cannabis legalization sweeps across the country, employers – large and small – are facing a massive challenge when it comes to balancing their need for safe worksites with treating their employees fairly,” said White. “There needs to be a fundamental shift towards determining very recent use of cannabis, because employers do not want to fire their employees. They are beginning to recognize that reliance on current marijuana testing methods risks positive results for employees who have actually used responsibly and are no longer impaired.”
Voters across America embraced legalized marijuana this month, passing initiatives for medical marijuana use in Mississippi and South Dakota and recreational marijuana use in Arizona, New Jersey, Montana, and South Dakota. The majority of Americans now have access to legal marijuana, with 15 states allowing legal recreational use and 35 states allowing legal medical use.
Legalization of marijuana has left employers and law enforcement agencies scrambling to adapt cannabis testing practices to identify very recent marijuana use. Peak impairment only lasts for a few hours1, yet current tests that detect marijuana in oral fluid, blood, urine and hair may give positive results for days or even weeks after someone last used marijuana. This can result in positive test results long after impairment has subsided.
“Larry will be critical to helping us bring necessary change to how our customers respond to the growing acceptance of sensible marijuana use,” said Dr. Mike Lynn, CEO and co-founder of Hound Labs, Inc. “The HOUND MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER will usher in a new era of marijuana drug testing, one in which employees and drivers who choose to use cannabis responsibly and legally are treated fairly for their choices.”
Today’s drug testing methods, which were developed when marijuana use was illegal, were helpful when “zero-tolerance” policies prohibited use of marijuana because it was uniformly classified as an illegal substance. However, in the era of marijuana legalization and acceptance, they do not provide sufficient information to discern between employees and drivers who used marijuana recently – and may be jeopardizing workplace and road safety – versus those who used last week and are no longer impaired. With the addition of White, Hound Labs is positioned to take advantage of the growing and urgent need for a fairer approach to marijuana drug testing.
Since launching a Wait List earlier this year, hundreds of employers, service providers and law enforcement agencies have joined. Despite impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing, Hound Labs continues to build its commercial manufacturing capabilities in preparation for go-to-market in early 2021.
About Hound Labs, Inc.
Hound Labs is a point-of-care health technology company that combines science and technology in novel ways to improve health and wellness. The Company believes its ultra-sensitive and portable technologies will pave the way to practical and fair solutions for some of the leading public health and safety issues. Hound Labs’ point-of-care solutions include the HOUND® MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER2, which allows employers and law enforcement to identify recent marijuana use rapidly and accurately by testing breath on-site, and the HOUND® COVID-19 BREATHALYZER, which captures breath samples on-location for laboratory identification of COVID-19. The Oakland-based company was founded in 2014 by a team including CEO Dr. Mike Lynn, an ER physician, reserve deputy sheriff, and former venture capitalist. Benchmark, Icon Ventures, Intrinsic Capital Partners, Main Street Advisors, NFP Ventures, and individual investors have funded the Company.
CONTACTS
CommStrat
Linden Kohtz
media@houndlabs.com
(512) 964-3784
Hound Labs, Inc.
Jenny Lynn, Co-Founder
media@houndlabs.com
1 http://home.trafficresourcecenter.org/~/media/Microsites/Files/traffic-safety/NHTSA-Drugs_Human_Performance.ashx
2 The HOUND® MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER is intended to detect recent marijuana use. It does not measure whether, or how much, a person is impaired. It is intended solely for use in law enforcement, employment, and insurance settings. It should not be used for any medical or therapeutic purposes, or for any Federal drug testing programs, such as programs run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. military.