What to know about the Most Commonly Used Drugs and Drug Testing
What to know about the Most Commonly Used Drugs and Drug Testing
What to know about the Most Commonly Used Drugs and Drug Testing.
Drug testing is a commonly performed procedure in American society as well as many other places around the world. The courts, employers, schools and law enforcement utilize this type of test in order to determine the absence or presence of a substance that has been ingested or otherwise transferred into a person’s body. Many different types of substances can be detected based on the reason the test is being conducted and the quality or accuracy of the particular test. There are also a variety of ways a drug test can be administered with varying degrees of accuracy such as testing urine, blood, hair and other samples from the body.
When does a drug test come into play?
There are dozens of common situations in society where an individual could be asked or even forced to take a drug test. Employers use pre-employment and random drug screening on new and current employees. This is most prevalent in positions where individuals may be driving or operating other heavy machinery, working with children or the elderly, handling money and some companies simply do it to lower insurance costs. The court system in the United States and in other governments around the world use drug screening on individuals convicted of drug and other related crimes as a condition of parole or probation. Law enforcement uses drug tests on drivers after fatal accidents have occurred and can be forced by court order if the person of interest does not comply, high schools in some parts of the country have started randomly testing students, and consumers can actually buy home drug screens to perform the procedure themselves.
Tests for pre-employment screening have been a subject of hot debate. Proponents argue that testing has worked to reduce the number of persons using drugs in and out of the workplace. Opponents argue that many types of pre-employment screening interrupt drug use but do nothing to eliminate it from the workplace. There is a lot of truth to this as candidates who undergo pre-employment screening will stop using drugs for the test and then start up again once hired in. Studies have shown the only real protocol to prevent continuous use is random drug screening where everyone is on “a level playing field”. Detoxification drinks are also popular and entail the user drinking a mixture of vitamins and detoxifying agents in order to clean their system of drug traces. These substances can be bought in head shops, vitamin stores, and online for around 30 dollars.
What do these tests look for?
Based on the particular situation and type of sample taken from a person’s body, there are many different types of drugs that a screen can detect. Many home drug screens can only test a limited number of substances such as THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) a key component of marijuana also known as weed, dank, refer, or green. Cocaine, which is also known as blow, white, coke, or nose candy. Opiates like heroin whose common street names are dope, junk, candy or big H. Morphine or codeine, which is legal to possess with a prescription and amphetamines, which are commonly called crank, crystal or Benny. More sophisticated tests performed in a medical laboratory can detect these and others like Phencyclidine (PCP), Valium, Xanax, Oxycodone, Oxycontin, and other drugs that are legal to own and possess with a prescription.
Some of the most common screens that are used in pre-employment or random testing are five panel screens that test for marijuana, cocaine, morphine, codeine, heroin, methamphetamines, amphetamines and PCP. More in depth ten panel screens test for drugs that may be legally possessed and are often used in more strenuous pre-employment or random screens for police officers, truck drivers, public transit drivers, and sometimes as a condition of probation or parole among many other applications. The sample from a person’s body tested will also reveal more after a test has been taken. Each drug has a set period of time based on a person’s metabolism as to how long it will remain detectable in the body. Marijuana Drug Testing is usually the easiest to conduct and there are many over the counter tests that focus specifically on the substance. Marijuana usually takes the longest to exit the body however testing a sample of hair can detect the presence of Marijuana as far back as a few months. In contrast, Urine Drug Testing in some cases may only yield results for marijuana up to a couple of weeks after last use. Of course the amount a person uses and the amount of time that
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