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Hair drug testing is one of the convenient means of detecting drug abuse. This test can be performed almost at any place of your choice. Hair drug test is so accurate that it is almost impossible to adulterate the test samples. It is very simple to perform and detect five major drugs that are cocaine, marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine and phencyclidine.
Advantages of Hair Drug Testing:
Hair sample drug test is efficient in determining an individual’s drug use history (up to 90 days) when compared with other drug tests, as the trace amounts of drug chemicals will get trapped inside the cortex of each hair. The following are some of the advantages of hair drug testing.
Ease of use:
The process of hair drug test is very easy. All that’s needed is a few strands of hair, taken close to the root. Once the sample is selected from the donor, it is placed in the specimen container. It is then send to the laboratory for testing. Hair follicle drug testing does not involve embarrassing collection of samples like that of other drug tests, and is most preferred by the corporates.
Long duration of detection:
Hair drug tests can detect drug abuse for longer periods than the other drug tests. Hair sample drug test is efficient in determining an individual’s drug abuse history when compared with other drug tests because trace amounts of drug chemicals get trapped inside cortex of each hair.
Difficult to adulterate:
It is highly impossible to adulterate test samples. Donors cannot cheat the test by changing the samples, because the sample is collected from the donor in the presence of the test supervisors. Adulteration of the specimen cannot beat hair tests unlike other types of drug tests.
Detects five major drugs:
A hair drug test can detect five major drugs, which include cocaine (cocaine & benzoylecgonine), marijuana, opiates (codeine, morphine & 6-monacteyl morphine), methamphetamine (methamphetamine & ecstasy), and phencyclidine (PCP). Hair drug screen is the method for detecting drugs in hair using enzyme-immunoassay (EIA), which is an industry standard for reliable and accurate drug testing.
Employee drug testing programs often incorporate hair follicle drug testing into their plans because of the sheer accuracy of these tests. Likewise, hair follicle drug testing does not involve the embarrassing collection of samples like that of urine or saliva drug tests. In most cases, a few strands of hair is all that is needed to obtain accurate results.
Posts Tagged ‘Morphine’
Advantages of Hair Drug Tests
Posted in drug test hair 
Tags: Drug Abuse, Hair Follicle Drug Testing, Hair Sample, Morphine, OpiatesHydrocodone: Prescription Drug Abuse & Testing
Hydrocodone or dihydrocodeinone is a semi-synthetic opioid derived from two of the naturally occurring opiates, codeine and thebaine.
Hydrocodone Prescription, Dosage & Administration:
Hydrocodone is an orally active, narcotic analgesic and antitussive. Being a narcotic analgesic, it is prescribed for the relief of moderate to severe pain & being a antitussive, it is prescribed as a medicine used to suppress or relieve coughing.
Hydrocodone comes both as a tablet and also in liquid form & thus can easily be taken orally. 5 mg of hydrocodone is equivalent to 30 mg of codeine when administered orally. Earlier hydrocodone and morphine were considered equipotent for pain control in humans. However, it is now considered that a dose of 15 mg of hydrocodone is equivalent to 10 mg of morphine. Hydrocodone is considered to be morphine-like in all respects and thus, final dosage is adjusted by physician according to the severity of the pain and the response of the patient.
Hydrocodone Abuse:
Vicodin i.e. hydrocodone in combination with acetaminophen, is a commonly abused version of hydrocodone in United States and Canada. Vicodin, as with all narcotic analgesics, can be habit forming—causing dependence, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms if not used as it is prescribed. The presence of acetaminophen in hydrocodone-containing products deters many drug users from taking excessive amounts.
Effects of Hydrocodone Abuse:
Some of the common side effects of drug abuse include dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, drowsiness, euphoria, vomiting, and constipation. Some of the lesser common side effects are various allergic reactions, blood disorders, mood swings, mental fogginess, anxiety, lethargy, difficulty in urinating, ureter spasms, rashes and irregular or depressed respiration etc.
Physical Dependence on Hydrocodone:
Opioid analgesics such as Hydrocodone may cause psychological and physical dependence. Physical dependence results in withdrawal symptoms in patients who abruptly discontinue the drug. Physical dependence usually does not occur to a clinically significant degree until after several weeks of continued opioid usage, but it may occur after as little as a week of opioid use.
Commercial Status in United States:
There are over 200 products containing hydrocodone in the U.S. When sold commercially in the US, hydrocodone is always combined with another medication due to a separate federal regulation. In its most usual forms, hydrocodone is combined with acetaminophen. Such commercial hydrocodone products which are combined with acetaminophen are known by various trademark names such as Vicodin & Lortab. Hydrocodone also can be combined with aspirin (Trade name: Lortab ASA), ibuprofen (Trade name: Vicoprofen), & certain antihistamines (Trade name: Hycomine).
Pure Hydrocodone tablets or capsules are not offered currently by any USA drug company. The cough preparation Codiclear DH is the purest available US hydrocodone item, containing guaifenesin and small amounts of ethanol as active ingredients.
With such a huge number of Hydrocodone containing products, the possibility of misuse and addiction remains substantial. As a result, Sales and production of this drug has increased significantly in recent years & so has its diversion and illicit use. To limit abuse of opioid drugs like Dilaudid it is necessary to properly assess the patient, employ proper prescription practices, periodically re-evaluate the opioid therapy, and properly dispense and store the drugs.
Hydrocodone Testing:
Hydrocodone may not cause a positive result in a standard opiate urine test. Many opiate tests test only for morphine (which both codeine and heroin break down into). This is true for both home/business kits and laboratory testing.
However, there are several specialized home and laboratory testing kits available that specifically detects hydrocodone (& hydromorphone, its metabolic product). So test results usually depend on the particular type of test that is used and whether or not laboratory verification is done. If a home drug test is given and the opiate test shows a positive result (due to hydromorphone use), laboratory verification might not result in a positive test because the lab may only test for morphine.
Posted in home drug test Tags: Euphoria, Lethargy, Morphine, Narcotic Analgesics, Physical DependenceBenefits of Clia Waived Drug Tests
CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment) Act was established in 1988 to set high quality laboratory testing methods to ensure accurate, reliable, timely test results etc. CLIA has categorized laboratory testing based on the test complexity of the performance and as per requirement of the laboratories. Waived drug test is one of the categorized laboratories testing with fulfillment of above requirements of the Act. Simple laboratory examination and procedures that are cleared by FDA for home use is known as waived drug test and mainly used to conduct preliminary or initial drug test.
Benefits of CLIA Waived Drug Test
Organizations provide various waived drug testing kits with 18 months durability from date of manufacturing and to be stored at room temperature. CLIA waived drug test uses simple and accurate methodologies to render appropriate test results without any risk of inconvenience for the patients. Many people are getting benefited with use this drug test like detection of drugs and few benefits are discussed below.
• Detects up to 12 drugs at a time: 12 drugs can be detected with help of 12 panel CLIA waived drug testing kit at a time. Amphetamine, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Cocaine, Ecstasy, Marijuana, Methadone, Methamphetamine, Morphine, Opiates, Oxycodone and Phencyclidine are the drugs that can be detectable using this drug test. SAMHSA cutoff levels are used to detect the above drugs.
• Results are known in minutes: Results of test are known within 5 minutes and results are stable for 8 hrs from the time of performing the test. High quality standards with different methods of performing this test.
• Small quantity of specimen: This test can be performed on different specimens as per the kits available like urine, hair, blood etc. specimen collected for conducting these are about 3 ml. No extensive paper is required for sample collection and for conducting the test. There is no chance of specimen tampering or adulterating.
• Simple procedure: Very easy and simple procedure is followed for collection of specimen and performing the drug test. In hospitals, laboratories and at home this test is used very commonly, specified person is required for conducting these tests.
Accurate results: This test ensures accuracy, reliability and timeliness among the testing results. The main objective of CLIA is to provide quality laboratory testing results. These drug testing kits are approved by FDA.
Waived drug tests are affordable and fine effective, can be used at home, laboratories and hospitals. It helps you to test on your own to find any drug levels in your body or in your family members. The above points give you necessary information about CLIA waived drug test, procedure and benefits.
