Drug Test Information

Drug test is a procedural examination of blood, sweat, oral fluid, urine or semen samples to detect the presence of certain specified drugs or the metabolized traces of drugs. However, detection of drugs in the blood sample is highly significant as compared to that in urine. Therefore, if you are undergoing drug test, you can opt for blood test to obtain accurate results.

The detection of drugs in the urine sample does not furnish details, whether you are actually under the sway of drugs at any point of time. It also does not determine the exact amount of drug in the sample. However, blood test provides precise details about the presence of drugs and at what time you have taken drugs.

Drug testing becomes extremely precise and reliable, if the testing procedures are carried out correctly. However, if you approach a laboratory, where lab officials implement poor testing procedures, the results can be very ambiguous and inaccurate. Therefore, here are details on procedures of drug testing to enable you know what goes on in drug testing.

Drug Testing Procedure

When you approach any laboratory or if your employer asks you to undergo the drug test, you to need to confirm that all the positive results are reasserted by LC/MS analysis or using GC/MS analysis. The reason is such analysis helps to make certain that no false results occur.

Drug testing technique makes use of two approaches, cut-off test and limit of drug detection test. Cut-off test has certain administrative limit assigned to it, using which positive results are determined. If your drug test shows positive results, but the drug identified is below the cut-off level, then the outcome of the drug test is negative.

Limit of drug detection test reports the detectable drug amount in the sample. It locates the drug amount, which can be well below the cut-off levels as discussed above. Later, if the outcome of the drug test is positive, it is important to undergo a zero tolerance test, because sometimes the most reliable methods may show false negative or false positive results, but zero tolerance tests provide the exact outcome.

Opt for a zero tolerance test from a laboratory, certified by SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). SAMSHA has specified the cut-off concentrations of the drug, which can be present in your sample, but the outcome of the drug test will still be positive.

Thus, a zero tolerance test is albeit expensive, it provides accurate results as compared to other drug testing methods. However, you need to note that laboratory officials do not contaminate the specimen and collect it properly.

Random drug test information

There is another significant aspect in drug detection methods. Random drug tests help to determine, if individuals took drugs recently or not.

So, if you are contemplating to conduct random drug test on your employees, make sure to conduct the test on individuals (who you know take drugs) within 24 hours, so that they do not get enough time to clear the drugs from the body.