Drug Testing

A drug testing may be needed in various situations. It is an analysis of a specimen of hair, urine, blood or oral fluid. A drug test will tell if there are any drugs present in the samples. The main reasons for drug testing is to detect the presence of drugs that may have been used for performance enhancing in athletes and other sports and the other reason is to detect the illegal use of drugs.

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There are different time limits for certain drugs to still be present in the sample given for example alcohol can be present in a urine sample for up to 80 hours, but in a blood or oral sample only for 12-24 hours, but again for a longer period in the hair which is 2 days. Barbiturates are detectable in hair for up to 90 days but only detectable in urine for 1 day or blood for 1-2 days.

When using urine to drug test you will have either a pass or fail or adulterated result from any test. Employers are using random drug testing more and more in the work place to detect the use of drugs in their work force or to confirm if drug rehabilitation programs are actually being followed and working in the work place. As the need for instant random drug testing increases there is now available instant drug testing kits that are used for urine and saliva only. The accuracy of these drug testing kits does vary depending on the manufacturer, but some kits claim to be as accurate as laboratory testing.

Hair drug testing is now accepted as evidence in courts of law in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Random drug testing can take place at any time usually when the person in charge has reason to believe that the person or persons have recently been taking drugs. In the United Kingdom an independent enquiry deemed that employers who forced drug testing on employers could be in breach of human rights. This does not apply to professions where public safety or public security could be put at risk if staff is taking illegal drugs.

Watchdog Solutions can help you if you need to arrange drug testing for any purpose.