Drug tests are conducted to find out whether a person has abused illicit drugs or not. Drug tests are increasingly becoming compulsory at many work places. People always look towards the ways to pass the drug tests. They may look at a household product or homemade solutions, or whether they need to go through a Napolitano newborn’s screening. Drug tests are now a norm particularly when seeking employment. Often, if a person does not clear the drug testing it can lead to disqualifying for a job.
What are the Methods for Testing the Drug Abuse?
There are four primary types of testing the drug abuse by taking the samples: Urine, Hair, Saliva, and Blood. Most common is the urine test which has the benefit of being inexpensive and less intrusive than the blood test. The following information gives about the methods which are followed by the drug abusers to pass a drug test.
Method #1 – Urine Tests
· They are the least expensive of the test methods
· They can be done at home (for example by parents)
· They detect use primarily within the past week (longer with regular use)
· They can be affected by abstaining from use for a period of time before the test
· They are often temperature tested to insure sample integrity
Method #2 – Hair Tests
· They are considered as the least intrusive method of drug testing.
· Currently they are many times more expensive than urine tests.
· They detect substance use over a longer period.
· Usually they do not detect usage within the past week.
· It requires a sample of hair which is about 1.5 inches long – test cannot be done with a single hair.
· Test positive a little more than twice as often as a urine test.
· They are not significantly affected by brief periods of abstinence from drugs.
· Sometimes they can be used to determine when usage occurred and if it has been discontinued or not.
· It claims to be able to reliably differentiate between opiate and poppy seed use.
Method #3 – Saliva Tests
· They can be done at home (for example by parents).
· It can detect usage primarily within the past week (longer with regular use).
· It can be affected by abstaining from use for a period of time before the test.
Method #4 – Blood Tests
· They are considered the most intrusive method of testing.
· They are the most expensive method of testing.
· They are the most accurate method of testing.
· They are the least common method of testing (most likely due to cost).
This information helps to look for methods to test the drug abusage. As you saw, there are various methods for testing the drug abuse, it is always suggestible to get self-tested first and then be sure to pass any test.
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Different Methods to Test Drug Abuse
Know About Opiate Drug Testing
Opiates are one of the most addictive drugs with sedative and analgesic effects, which depress the central nervous system. According to the TEDS report, opiates are the primary substance of abuse and accounted for almost one-fifth (19 percent) of all substance abuse treatment admissions in 2007. Some common opiates are morphine, codeine and heroin, of which heroin is the major illegal drug. According to NSDUH, there were about 114,000 persons aged 12 or older who used heroin for the first time within the past 12 months in 2008.
Opiates is one of the five metabolite groups called SAMHSA-5 that can be tested for workplace drug testing under SAMHSA guidelines. The opiate drug tests detect the presence of codeine, morphine, and 6-acetyl-morphine. The presence of 6-acetyl-morphine shows recent heroin abuse.
Urine drug testing:
Urine test is a common method of detecting opiate and its metabolites in urine specimen. Morphine can be detected in urine for 2 days, codaine for 2 to 3 days and heroin for 3 to 4 days. The cutoff concentration for initial test of opiate metabolites is 2000ng/mL. The confirmatory cut off level for morphine and codeine are 2000ng/mL and 10ng/mL for 6-acetylmorphine.
Hair drug testing:
Many opiates can be detected using hair tests. Hair tests require a sample of hair about 90 to 120 strands. The standard hair screen uses the most recent 1.5 inches of growth for testing. Hair tests detect substance abuse over a long period. Morphine, codeine and heroin can be detected for up to 90 days using hair tests. The initial cutoff level for opiate metabolites is 200 pg/mg and confirmatory cutoff value is also 200 pg/mg.
Saliva drug testing:
Saliva tests are easy to administer and adulteration of the specimen can be avoided. Morphine and heroin can be detected in saliva for 1 to 2 days and codeine for 2 to 3 days. The initial cutoff concentration level for opiate metabolites is 40ng/mL. The confirmatory test cutoff level for Morphine and codeine are 40ng/mL each and 4 ng/mL for 6-acetylmorphine.
Opiate abuse continues be a serious threat to public health. The above information will surely help you to understand different methods of opiate drug testing and choose the better one to detect this harmful drug without much hassle.
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