These days everyone has drug testing FAQs that they would like to know the answer to. Since there is a good chance that you are going to be asked to take a drug test sometime in the future the more knowledge you have about the different types of tests that can be run and what their rights are, the better off you are going to be.
Drug testing is one of the best ways to determine if someone is using drugs. The two most common reasons for a drug test to be ordered is by the court system as a means to determine if you have broken the terms of your probation, or an employer/potential employer can request that you have a drug test done.
Urine Testing
When most people hear that they are going to be forced to take ran dome drug tests, they want to know what kind of drug tests they will have to take. The type of drug testing that is most commonly ordered is a urine test. The reason that this test is most commonly requested has to do with cost. It is very inexpensive to run a drug test on someone’s urine. If you have been ordered to perform a urine drug test you are going to have to go into a drug testing facility where they will collect your urine sample. Most of the places that collect the sample are also equipped to test the urine at the same time.
When a drug test is performed on your urine, it will show if you have recently used drugs. What the urine test will be unable to determine is if you are currently under the immediate influence of the drug, or if there are simply trace amounts of the drug in your system. In order to determine if you are directly under the influence of the drug, a blood test would have to be done.
In most cases a positive test result from a urine sample is all that is needed. If you have been ordered to take random drug tests as a part of a probation deal, a positive urine test will put you in violation of that agreement. If you had the test done because you were being considered for a job, the positive result will be all it takes for the employer to turn to other applicants.
There are some urban myths about the length of time that drug use will show up in a urine test. The most common urban myth is that marijuana will still be present in the urine thirty days after it has been used. While there are some very rare situation where the marijuana does till show up quite a while after it has been last take, thirty days is extreme. Most of the time the traces of marijuana are gone after 3-4 days, however if you know that you are going to have to take a drug test, you should stop using marijuana as far in advance as you possibly can to ensure a clean drug test.
Most of the time you are not going to have much advance warning about an upcoming drug test. You will show up for work and be asked to take one. However if you do have some warning there are some things that you can do. The first is to stop using drugs right away. If you have not taken any drugs in 48 hours, you can take a dose of niacin which helps temporarily purge your body of drug toxins and gives you clean urine for about 6 hours. If you opt for a temporary detox you should keep in mind that that large doses of niacin does have some unpleasant side effects.
Blood Testing
There are some instances when you could be ordered to take drug test that is done performed on a blood sample instead of a urine sample. This drug test is not used as frequently since it is more expensive. Testing the blood is a bit more complicated than a urine test.
The most common reason that a blood drug test will be ordered instead of a urine test is because while a urine test can show if there are trace amounts of drugs in your system, it will not show if you are currently under the influence, whereas a blood test will. Blood drug tests are most commonly used for traffic related crimes when the responding officer needs to know if you should be charged with driving while under the influence of some drug.
Suspected drug users are not the only people who can have a drug test run on their blood, victims of crimes, particularly sexual assault, will also be asked to submit to a blood drug test. When this type of test is done, the blood is being tested for drugs that are frequently associated with date rape.
The best thing you can do if you are using drugs and suspect that a drug test is going to be requested, is to stop using the drugs immediately. The people who are running the drug test have seen and heard all the stories. In the days leading up to the drug test keep a careful record of everything you eat so that you can be prepared to protest if you happen to get a false positive.