Five Common Drug Testing Myths

Posted by admin | Filed under Management

Drug testing in the workplace is an effective way to identify people with drug problems or issues and helps businesses protect their employees by maintaining a drug free working environment. Some people have attempted to undermine the drug testing process which has caused drug testing facilities to make changes in their drug testing methods. Some misconceptions concerning drug testing abound because some of these methods may have worked in the past and sometimes a drug user does manage to circumvent the drug testing procedure or are able to adulterate the results. However, these situations are extremely rare as drug testing facilities are aware of these attempts and they take measures to counter these attempts, including retesting the individual with little or no notice.

  1. Many people think that they can substitute their urine with a sample from someone who is clean. Most drug testing facilities either require the individual to remove their clothes and wear a gown while others require that the individual provide their urine specimen in the presence of a witness. In addition, testing laboratories test how fresh the urine is and can determine if the specimen is fresh or synthetic.
  2. There is a common belief that the use of diuretics to dilute the drugs in their system. This practice does make the individual go to the bathroom a lot but not enough to flush all the chemicals out of their system. THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, stores in the body’s fat cells and the only way it will leave the system is through abstinence and a significant period of time. Diuretics and other flushing agents will not remove chemicals fast enough from an individual’s system if that individual recently used an illegal drug.
  3. Adding a cleansing agent to the specimen to neutralize illicit drugs is also a common idea that does not work, primarily for the same reasons of substitution. Testing facilities have a security system in place that makes it nearly impossible to smuggle the additive and mixing it with the specimen. In addition, laboratory processes detect such additives and raises a red flag to the administrators of the testing facility. Any time a red flag is raised, the facility will usually require a second testing, with little or no notice. The second time that the test is administered, the testing facility will take even greater security precautions to ensure that the individual produces an accurate and fresh specimen. In addition, there are some misconceptions as to what may cause a false positive result. Drug testing facilities are also aware of such triggers of false results and they have adjusted their laboratory procedures to compensate for any potential misleading test results. People do need to take into consideration that when they are working for a company that requires drug testing or if they are unemployed and applying for positions at companies that may have pre-employment drug testing, that they may have to make changes in their lifestyle, including associations with people who use illegal drugs.
  4. People are usually concerned about showing a positive result for a drug test if they have somehow come into contact with second hand marijuana smoke. It is true that the body may have a detectable trace of illicit drugs in their system, but the amount is insignificant and is not at the same levels as that of an individual who uses the drug in the regular way. This may or may not raise a red flag with the testing administrator and may require secondary testing. Again, this is why it is important not to go around places where people use illegal drugs.
  5. A very old myth involves that of eating some type of food that has poppy seeds. As with inhaling second hand smoke, poppy seeds have so little opium that an individual could safely eat a couple dozen bagels with poppy seeds and still not have enough in their system to give a positive result for opium. One thing that concerns many people that have to take a drug test is that they may be taking medication that a doctor has recently prescribed for them. This is usually not a problem as most medications do not contain the same chemicals as illegal drugs and if the individual happens to be taking a prescribed medication that renders positive results on a drug test, a quick confirmation of the prescribed medication will usually clear the individual.

 

Permalink | January 18th, 2012

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