Drug testing at the workplace cuts across almost all organizations, companies or employers. In the labor market, it is quite possible that at some time you will be demanded to test for drugs when you are a member of the organization’s staff or a candidate for a job.
What Are the Reasons Employers Test for Drugs?
Employers conduct workplace drug tests for various reasons, primarily to
- Ensure workplace safety: Clients are looking for ways to avoid accidents and cases where employees are subdued in their schedules.
- Maintain productivity: There is always the tendency that the performance of an individual or a group will be affected due to drug dependency. Testing helps know that the employees is capable to performing their duties to the optimum.
- Protect company reputation: Termination, negative or low score, poor performance, accidents, employee drug use, or violation of company policy harm an organization’s reputation. Testing aims to avoid this.
- Comply with legal and regulatory requirements: There are some industries where drug testing is inevitable because of safety regulations. Testing programs assist in meeting these mandates.
- Reduce healthcare costs: A positive relation exists between substance abuse and increased employer’s healthcare cost. To some extent, this financial loss is offset by testing programs.
Types of Drug Tests
There are several types of drug tests used in the workplace, each with its own detection window and accuracy:
- Urine tests: The urinator tests Urine samples as they are easy to get and easy to test. THC may be detected in the human body for 1-30 days.
- Saliva tests: Saliva tests are easy to use but, the window period is shorter in averagely between 1-10 days.
- Hair tests: Hair testing looks for drug metabolites with greater window periods as compared to urine and blood testing, but detects only the last use.
- Blood tests: Urine tests are less invasive but slightly less accurate, and can only identify recent use. Blood tests are very accurate and can pick up recent use but require more force.
What Drugs Are Typically Tested For?
Workplace drug tests commonly screen for the following substances:
- Marijuana (THC): Cannabis and its components include THC, which can be analyzed for and found in urine for several weeks after use.
- Cocaine: Cocaine and its metabolites might be detected for 2-4 days following cocaine use.
- Amphetamines: Adderall or Methamphetamine is detected in urine for 1-3 days.
- Opiates: Opioid painkillers and heroin metabolizes rapidly, but they remain present in the urine for 1-3 days.
- Phencyclidine (PCP): PCP is a hallucinogen that may be present in urine, usually for 4-8 days.
Comprehending the Time for Detecting and Testing Drugs
The length of time a drug remains detectable in your system varies depending on several factors, including:
- Type of drug: Preliminary detection, depending on the sort of drug differs sharply. Studies have shown that THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, remains in a person’s body much longer than cocaine.
- Frequency of use: They pointed out that drugs and metabolites will be retained longer in frequent or long-term users than in persons who occasionally use the substances.
- Metabolism: It is important to understand the individual metabolism because it determines the times of elimination of substances. Obesity means a slowed metabolism rate =slowed down excretion rate.
- Dosage: This is because the higher the doses, the more metabolite accumulation and therefore the longer they can be detected.
- Body fat: THC and other fat-soluble drugs settle down in fat and release metabolites slowly and systematically.
Strategies to Pass a Workplace Drug Test
If you’re facing a workplace drug test and have used drugs recently, there are several strategies you can consider:
- Abstinence: The only sure method used by these athletes is to avoid the drugs as much as possible and then undergo the test.
- Detoxification: Detox programs in fact are supposed to cause more rapid elimination of drugs from the body, yet they are quite unreliable.
- Substitution: Some of the often faked sample types include urine and saliva; it is possible to obtain faked urine or saliva to pass the test, but the risk is to be caught.
- Dilution: Using water to dilute the urine could help, although this is counterproductive because urination dilution can easily be noticed.
- Adulteration: Lobbyist’s so-called adulterants, such as bleach used in urine or saliva, have the intention to conceal the drug residues but they do not do this well.
- Important Disclaimer: I also want to state clearly that I do not encourage or support cheating, swapping or spiking of any sample for a drug test at the workplace. This article does not intend to be a call for clients to take any specific action.
Things Patients Should Expect During The Drug Testing
The drug testing process typically involves the following steps:
- Notification: As for any other medical examination, the employer normally gives prior notice that there is an imminent drug test.
- Collection: Workers provide samples at a site that is supervised by a technician.
- Sample provision: By following the test protocols, employees give a urine, saliva, hair or blood sample under supervision.
- Specimen handling: Sample collections are then contained, identified, packed, and arranged for transport to the testing laboratory.
- Chain of custody: Samples for testing should undergo thorough monitoring from the time of collection up to data analysis.
- Testing: During the sampling, check for drug contents before taking a sample to the lab, an initial screening test will check for drug residues followed by confirmatory test will check for positive samples.
- Results: Of final test results, the lab sends the report back to the employer. Results can be also viewed by employees.
Advice to Follow to Pass Your Drug Test
Here are some additional tips to increase your chances of passing a workplace drug test:
- Follow instructions carefully: Allow collection site staff to provide valid specimens by listening to them.
- Maintain hygiene: It helps prevent problems such as contaminated samples, which cause a big letdown.
- Avoid excessive fluid intake: This is because excessive fluid can wash out constituents in urine that may cause dilute urine which will need a repeat test.
- Be honest: This is to mean that you should go ahead and lie if you believe you will get a positive test result. To commit fraud is to dig a deeper hole for oneself.
- Remain calm: As a candidate, you will normally feel the pressure to perform hence testing may cause anxiety but try and keep it under control.
Conclusion
Quite simply, knowledge and planning are necessary to beat a workplace drug test. Practical utilization of testing reasons: test basic causes, usual methods, conclusion time and expectations cannot overturn important legal aspects and ethical points. Adhere to the proper procedure of the collection, think about the described tactics, and appreciate the consequences of positive results.
