Drug Testing

Urine Drug Testing versus Hair Follicle Drug Testing

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on March 5th, 2010

Urine drug testing and hair drug testing are among the most popular methods of drug detection. Below is a short comparison of these 2 methods.

Urine Drug Tests

urine drug testUrine drugs testing is one of the simplest and least expensive methods of drug testing. It can be easily administered at home or at work, although it may be better to have the guidance and supervision of professionals and the use of proper lab equipment for more accurate results. Urine drug testing is able to detect drug and alcohol use within one or two weeks. Urine testing has a number of notable weaknesses and loopholes. Because it takes a while for the drugs to appear in the urine, it would take at most three hours for them to be detectable. Urine tests are also easily affected by simple adulteration methods.

Hair Drug Tests

hair drug testHair follicle drug testing has proven to be a better alternative to urine tests for a number of reasons. It is capable of detecting a longer history of drug or alcohol intake, up to about 3 to 6 months after intake. This method of drug testing is capable of determining the patterns of drug abuse. Its only drawback is that it is relatively more expensive than a regular urine test. Even with the relatively higher cost of hair follicle drug testing, it is clearly the more conclusive and better method of drug testing.

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4 Major Factors that Affect Drug Detection Times

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on March 2nd, 2010

Drug tests are becoming a necessary precaution especially when it comes to admission to new jobs and schools. There are numerous methods by which drug detection is carried out, and it is a troublesome fact that there are some of them that are easily cheated. Drug detection times indicate the history of drug use. What it reveals is the presence of metabolites in the specimen as a result of taking drugs. These are the factors that heavily affect drug detection times:

drug testingTolerance

Tolerance is the amount of drugs a person is able to take at one time. Different people have different tolerance rates. If the tolerance for a drug is lower, then the drug metabolizes slower in the body, thus increasing drug detection times.

Metabolism

Like tolerance, metabolism is different for every individual. Our body burns calories as we do our daily routines and activities. Detection times depend on a person’s level of activity or metabolic rate; the faster the metabolism of a person, the shorter the drug detection time.

Presence of Body Fat

In relation to metabolism, the metabolic rate is in some way proportional to the amount of body fat in a person. If the patient is someone with high levels of body fat, his metabolism would be slower thus making the drugs take a little longer to burn away.

Frequency of Drug Use

Although it might seem to be a given that someone who takes drugs on a regular basis can have a longer detection time, this is simply not so. Someone with a higher tolerance for drugs may be capable of metabolizing them faster, thus making it quicker for him to eliminate drugs in his system.

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Common Urine Drug Test Adulteration Practices

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on March 1st, 2010

The greatest weakness of the urine drug test is its vulnerability to adulteration. Cheating techniques have become dangerously easy to access and perform because of the many information people find online. If you go about the Internet to search for techniques to cheat drug tests, you’ll be able to find numerous hits and websites that actually teach you how. There are even products that help you with passing drug tests. To be able to detect possible adulteration in drug tests, examiners need to be aware of these techniques too. Here are the most common adulteration techniques out there:

urine sampleExcessive Hydration

Drinking heavy doses of water and frequent urinating still remains the most popular method of cheating urine drug tests. Cheaters usually use salt solutions to induce dehydration or flushing agents that augment urine outputs. The theory is that the more water you chug down, the more toxins in the urine you are able to let out. But some testing facilities are able to detect suspicious urine samples by checking the urine’s composition.

Adulteration

Household materials may be used to mess up a urine test. A small dose of vinegar, soap detergent, bleach or salt can compromise the urine test by altering its composition and masking the illegal substances. Some chemical cocktails that promise to fool urine tests can be bought over the internet. It is important that before the urine test, that the people undergo a thorough search. Patients are only asked to empty their pockets and are frisked.

Switching Urine

Switching urine is a practice that is known to be the ultimate weakness of urine drug testing since there is no easy way of matching the urine with the user. Cheaters usually bring their foreign urine sample with them to the facility, keeping them as warm as possible. Samples whose temperature is below the average body temperature are deemed suspicious.

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Different Methods of Alcohol Testing

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Alcohol Abuse, Drug Testing on February 18th, 2010

There are numerous methods for alcohol testing available but the most used and trusted are among these five: urine tests, blood alcohol tests, alcohol breathalyzer tests, saliva alcohol tests, and hair alcohol tests. Whether for job requirements or sobriety tests, these tests are among the most widely used methods worldwide.

urine blood testsUrine Tests

This test is able to detect alcohol ingestion mainly within a week or longer, depending on the frequency of the alcohol intake. Urine tests are highly reliable for results and can provide the most flexibility in testing for other substances such as drugs and nicotine.

Blood Alcohol Testing

Blood testing can accurately show the amount of alcohol that is present in the bloodstream at the time the sample was taken. This method of testing is the most accurate for testing for a person’s BAC (blood alcohol content) but it is one of the most expensive.

Saliva Alcohol Tests

This method of testing approximates the BAC through the saliva and can detect more recent drug use that other testing methods.

Breath Alcohol Testing

By estimating the person’s BAC by measuring the amount of alcohol in one’s breath, we can approximate the level of intoxication of a person. This test is widely used because of its mobility as you can take the breathalyzer anywhere.

Hair Alcohol Tests

Hair is able to absorb special markers called ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) which remain in the hair indefinitely as long as the person doesn’t shave or cut his hair. These markers are produced when alcohol is introduced into the bloodstream.

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Hair Follicle Drug Test: Easy, Effective and Discreet

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on February 9th, 2010

Hair follicle testing is a manner of drug testing wherein strands of hair are searched for traces of drugs. The drugs that can be detected through hair follicles include Phencyclidine (PCP), Methamphetamine (Methamphetamine/Amphetamine & Ecstasy), Cocaine (Cocaine & Benzoylecgonine), Marijuana and Opiates (Codeine, Morphine & 6-Monacteyl Morphine).

hair follicle drug testingCompared to a urine test, hair drug analysis is a far more effective method of testing especially in identifying low-level drug use over an extended period of time. Hair follicle testing can trace a drug intake history of 90 days, depending on the person’s hair growth rate. After a drug is ingested whether smoked, snorted, ingested, or injected, metabolites which are intermediates of metabolism are produced as the drug is processed by the body. As these metabolites and drugs are circulated in the body, they nourish hair follicles which are consequently introduced into the hair strand.

A standard hair follicle test requires about 40 milligrams of hair, or approximately 50 to 70 strands of hair for proper results. Hair strands that are approximately 1.5 inches in length are used. If no head hair is available as a result of balding, body hair can be tested as a substitute. They can be collected and then combined to meet the required quantity of hair.

Hair follicle testing is easy and discreet. Parents who want to know whether or not their child is using drugs can benefit from its discretion by collecting hair strands. Easy-to-use hair follicle testing kits are available on the market, which are beneficial because of its confidentiality. By using hair drug testing at home, parents can take preventive measures or help with the child’s recovery, if he has been found already abusing drugs.

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Growing Popularity of Hair Drug Testing

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on January 2nd, 2010

Drug testing can sometimes lead to sticky situations, especially when the reliability of the test is questionable. One method of testing is done using hair, and this is actually one of the most reliable drug tests today.

hair drug testHair can be collected anywhere around the patient’s body. It doesn’t have to be just hair on his head. If he shaved his head before testing, you can take some hair from his face, arms, or legs. Of course, you would need a substantial amount of hair for the testing to have valid results, especially if the hair that you collected is shorter than needed.

Another clear advantage is that hair takes up to 90 days to detect drug use. Other forms of testing that utilize urine and blood have only a maximum detection period of 7 days, which is just a blink of an eye for hair drug testing. Not only can you determine drug use, but you can also find out how long the person has been using drugs.

Of course, with its advantages over other testing methods, one can expect it to be more expensive. Despite the difference in price, it is generally worth it. The reliability of the test offsets its cost.

With these things in mind, it is not hard to see why hair drug testing is becoming more and more popular as a preferred testing method. The source material is readily available at any time, since everyone has hair somewhere on their bodies, and the detection window for drug use is a lot longer than when you use blood or urine.

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