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Many types of drug testing techniques are available for detecting drug abuse. Urinalysis is one of the most commonly used urine based drug testing as it is a simple technique, and less expensive. Urine drug testing has been popular and employed successfully for testing drugs across the organizations, schools, at home etc.
Drugs tested
Laboratory urine drug testing detects the presence of many drugs with accurate results. This drug testing can detect maximum of 10 most commonly used drugs at once. It detects the parent drug or its metabolites by demonstrating recent use of prescription medications like opioids, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, barbiturates and illegal substances like heroin, illicit cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine (PCP). This test is used as a screening tool to determine the prior use and concentrations of drugs present in the body.
Procedure followed
For laboratory urine drug test, collection and testing urine specimen is done under the presence of an authorized person. After this, tests are conducted on collected specimen for detection of drug tests by immunoassay screen followed by GS-MS confirmation test. Chemical highlighted test strip is used for this test. The test strip should be examined carefully with the help of lab testing devices depending upon the types of substances to be detected.
For each drug the detection periods and cut off levels depend on the nature and usage of the drug. The detection period of any drug through laboratory urine drug testing is from 6 hours to 3 days from the time of consumption. All screening tests are performed by the immunoassay based on the technology of the testing kit. Confirmatory tests are performed using either gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or any other superior technique. The samples are treated with either the technical or all of these methods to verify the results. Confirmation results are reported as positive or negative based on SAMSHA cut off levels and all non-negative results are confirmed prior to any disclosure.
Laboratory urine drug test is used as standard test for drug detection. Reliable results are possible with this laboratory drug testing and they can be used as a proof drug abuse. The above information gives you a helpful insight about the laboratory urine drug test, drugs detected through this and the procedure followed.
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Know About Laboratory Urine Drug Test
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Tags: Know About Cotinine Drug Testing
Cotinine is a metabolic of nicotine, used to measure the grade of tobacco smoking. According to National Survey On Drug Use 2007, overall 68 million people abuse tobacco, and more than 3.5 million teens abuse tobacco between 12-17 years. Detection of smoke levels present in the body is possible with help of Cotinine test. Cotinine levels describe the level of smoke in the body.
Cotinine abuse
Cotinine abuse is similar to any illicit drug abuse. Cotinine is major metabolite of nicotine. Cotinine is present in nicotine, and smoked in cigarettes, chewed, and sniffed. When nicotine is metabolized, it gradually builds the level of cotinine in the body of both habitual smokers, and regular smokers. This drug is popular among teens because it is available in colorful packages with flavor choices to abuse. Cotinine itself is not harmful but nicotine is harmful, and has many adverse effects on the health of the abuser.
Test for cotinine
Cotinine effects are present in body for 20 hours from the time of consumption. Cotinine levels can be detected using various methods like gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Cotinine can be detectable from days to one week after tobacco abuse. Cigarette preference, menthol, puff size, and many other factors influence the detection period of cotinine using different testing types. Different persons have different levels of cotinine in the body with regular smoking. One way to reduce the cotinine levels in the body is to stop smoking.
Immunoassay technology used for detecting illicit drugs, can detect cotinine substance in body. Detection period of cotinine from specimen is four days after consumption. Cotinine retains in the blood for long period after consumption through smoking. There are many methods used for detecting cotinine. One of the preferred method is urine drug testing. Cotinine testing through saliva drug testing is difficult both in terms of collecting the specimen as well as drug detection. Using testing kits, testing process of cotinine is simple, and easy to perform at home. Often, lab confirmation tests are used to test cotinine levels for accurate results.
The above information gives you an overview about cotinine abuse, and testing methods. Cotinine drug testing makes it easier to detect presence of nicotine, and its metabolism presence in body.
A general view on drug testing
They are Urine Test, Hair/Hair Follicle Test, Blood Test and Saliva Test. The candidate has to provide the required specimen for the testing which is tested by a Drug Test Kit or is sent to laboratory for detail checking.
Among these different kinds of names of drug testing the testing of urine and hair follicle are common for the corporate personals. You have to pass a urine test to pass a drug test. Urine is checked by a panel kit or is sent to a laboratory. Another way of checking is hair follicle test. Pass a hair test is painful. This test confirms the probable dose of drugs intaking. Saliva test is not done frequently. Blood test is another test to be sure about this. This is an expensive test only to determine drug in anyone’s blood. Drug testing procedure comprises of two step process. At first the sample which can be urine or hair follicle or saliva or blood is collected from the individual and then this sample is divided into two parts. One part of the sample collected is tested for screening using immunoassay, which is a relatively simple, inexpensive, yet highly accurate test. Then comes the next step and it completely depends on the first test. If it is found that the first step is negative then the first step is declared to be negative automatically but if the first step is found positive then the second part of the collected sample is used for examination. This test is of conformation. This test is conducted using the other part of the sample using a more complicated and more costly technique known as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or thin-layer chromatography (TLC). And then if this test also confirms the presence of drug in the person’s body then it is said that the person undergoing the test is declared to be under the influence of drugs. But if this test says that the result is negative then the previous one is confirmed to be incorrect.
The whole process of drug testing is done with lot of care and safety. It is ensured that the sample is safe from any kind of alteration. Clean containers must be used to collect the sample. The sample must be checked immediately for acidity and temperature. Besides these care should be taken that the containers should be labeled in the presence of witness and furthermore, the containers should be sealed properly to prevent alteration. Watch out that the test should not be performed by a layperson and look out that the samples should be tested by licensed labs. All these factors are very important because the finally the results depends on all these factors. So take care of these factors to get the accurate results.
If you want to clear a drug test then you must ensure that there is not any metabolized trace of drug in your body. You must acquire some knowledge about the time period that a toxin stays in your system. And then take a proper counter way to pass a drug test.
