The General Practices of the Industry When it Comes to Marijuana

Drug testing is the exercise that is carried out whenever a doctor, legal entity, athletic organization or employer needs to determine whether an individual has banned or illegal substances in his or her body. Drug testing may be carried out before the commencement of certain insurance policies and new jobs, on court order, according to the directive of the doctor for monitoring a suspected or known substance-abuse patient, randomly to satisfy athletic and workplace drug testing programs, and whenever an individual has the symptoms suggesting the use of drugs.
Drug testing is carried out by some schools in the US, and some of the ways through which this is done are pre-employment testing, return to duty testing, reasonable suspicion/cause testing, random testing, post-accident testing and follow-up testing, and in doing this, urine sample is collected to test for marijuana

The standard of drug testing when it comes to marijuana is a urine test. This has been quite effective for companies for a number of years because of how long pot stays in your system. Basically pot attaches to fat cells and fat products, which gives it a 30-day lifespan in your system. Other drugs only have a 48 hour to one week life span and are easier to get rid of. In general, marijuana tends to be the one most people have trouble with.

Urine Test and THC

While there are some tests that can determine the amount of THC is in the system, it would typically require a blood test. This is a long process and often more expensive. This means that prospective employers and current employers typically just go with a urine test that determines if there is any THC in the system. This leads to “false positives” some times if you have been around pot smoke such as at a friend’s house or at a concert. The only option you have at that point is to request a “level” be drawn. This could result in a delay of employment or a suspension until the determination can be made as to how much pot is in your system.

Arguments Against the Urine Test for THC

Many people, even those who don’t believe pot should be legalized, do disagree with the stringent testing for THC in a drug screen. The fact that you could have just one night out and still have it in your system a month later seems unfair. In addition, in some states there are “legalized” reasons to use pot and there is no way to test whether you are actually under the influence right now. Just like drinking, it isn’t a drug that affects your abilities to do your job when you are not currently high. Other, more addictive drugs like cocaine, meth and heroine tend to alter judgment and cause greater harm than pot.

Ways Around the Urine Test

Many people have found a number of ways to fake the urine tests. The labs continue to get better, so you have to be careful when it comes to how you are trying to dodge the test. Many labs now know of the existence of synthetic urine and can test for such things which cause an automatic fail. You can choose to detox your system. This usually includes high dose B12 and a complete removal of all fat from your diet. To run this process completely you have to take an entire week. Many places require you have the test within 48 hours to avoid such versions of “cheating the system.” The most common way to try and get around the urine screen is to bring in “clean urine.” This can be difficult to get but there are outlets selling various types of urine that promise you will pass any standard screen.

In general, an employer uses a drug test as an honesty test. Most people do not want to hire people who are willing to bend the rules or participate in illegal activities. It opens the company up to lawsuits or safety concerns. Whether the testing is actually effective is subjective. It has been decided to be the industry standard prior to hiring a new employee. It is not likely to be changed any time soon and if you sign an employment contract you typically agree to such a test as well as the ability of the company to randomly test employees in the future.

Drug Testing Kits

There are many easy-to-use drug testing kits today, and if you want to know whether your child uses marijuana, the kits will provide the best solution. When buying the kits, make sure that they are approved by the FDA for office and home use. A good kit will give you accurate results of 99.9%, and within some minutes, provide a negative or positive presence of drugs in the system.