By Suzana 
Many job applicants are required to undergo drug tests as part of their application process. Companies do drug testing to ensure that an employee is free from substance abuse before getting accepted. Depending on the policy and the existing state laws, many employers make this a requirement before someone gets a job offer.
Employers do drug tests through a variety of means. This means can include classic urine tests. Others opt for blood, hair and saliva tests to check if there are drugs in the system. Here are some pieces of information that you need about drug testing.
What is Urine Drug Testing?
Urine screening tests are commonly used by employers. They are quick, efficient, painless and cost-effective. The process includes providing a urine sample and giving it to a technician, then they analyze it. Urine drug tests analyze the presence of THC metabolites when a person is a marijuana user. The screening is for amphetamines, barbiturates, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, and methadone.
Urine tests detect substance abuse in potential applicants. Read more about it in this link here. There are those who might have a doctor’s prescription but may be misusing the drugs because they may be too dependent on them. Urine tests are important because they can help with treatment and rehabilitation if a person is a chronic drug user. It is important to note that in some countries like the US, they should test all applicants that are applying for a job post. Testing selectively is prohibited and it is an “all or none” policy that they should comply with the feds.
Types of Drug Tests
The two main types of drug tests can be at home using kits and professional drug testing. Professional drug testing uses a sophisticated facility and professional testers to ensure that the results are accurate.
Home Drug Tests
The saliva and urine test can easily be done at home. There are strips that can be purchased on over-the-counter drugstores. There are a lot of online websites that are offering drug test kits as well. All you need to do is to collect a sample of your urine or saliva. Dip the strip on your sample in the specified amount of time and read the results according to the package.
However, for some users, the results can be inaccurate. Some cheap drug test kits can show three different results at the same time. This misleading and incorrect information can be troublesome if you have an upcoming drug test in your company. Some external factors can have an impact on the overall test results. In order for the home drug test to work, you need to do a lot of research, a piece of knowledge about the method of testing used, and a careful approach when doing the tests.
Professional Drug Tests
Professional drug tests offer more accurate results. They can also gather insights about the person’s overall health, but they are more expensive. The tests often include urine, hair, blood, and sweat drug tests. These testes can be done inside the company requesting a random drug testing or in their laboratory. To know more on how to pass a drug test, visit sites such as https://cleardrugtests.com/ and get insights and tips.
Urinalysis
This is the cheapest method available and is very popular for a lot of companies. Over 90% of the 50 million drug tests performed in 2018 are a urine test. This is already considered as the gold standard of the drug test industry because it can accurately detect the presence of marijuana metabolites and other drugs in a person’s body. When a person inhales pot, most of the substance in the pot is already being metabolized by the body. What the urine test does is, it looks for the non-psychoactive presence of the drug metabolites instead of trying to detect the parent drug. Some of the metabolites in marijuana are the THC-COOH which can be detected for up to two weeks.
Blood Tests
This is the most accurate way of detecting THC metabolites or nicotine in a person’s body. However, it is not a popular way of testing because it is expensive. When a driver gets into a road accident, the law usually requires him to take a blood drug test in order to see if he used illegal substances while driving. The test, however, can’t detect the presence of illegal substances after the 24-hour mark. For chronic users, the presence of THC metabolites can be detected for up to 48 hours.
Swab or Saliva Tests
These kinds of tests are usually on-the-spot. They are administered if someone is about to get a job offer from a company that they are applying to. The saliva or swab test detects the presence of the parent drug. It is less expensive than the blood test and less invasive than a urine test. However, if the technician is inexperienced, the accuracy of the test can be questionable. Some of the THC metabolites may reach the saliva after use but it has little chance of doing so. The detection window can be small with just a few hours. No one would be mindless enough to smoke marijuana and go job hunting afterward. But in some cases, the drug metabolites can enter the oral fluids through the process of diffusion which makes them detectable for a longer period.
Hair Follicle Test
This test is done mostly for research purposes. The results from hair follicle tests are hard to beat. However, this test can be the least accurate of all drug tests. The test detects the presence of drug metabolites from the bloodstream to the follicle. The test can detect data such as the pattern of use and detecting the parent drug. However, smoke or powder from the environment can affect the test. This can result in a false positive. Some renowned laboratories said that the smoke does not contribute to the test result, but experts believe that the samples can be contaminated with little effort. The dark and white hair are true magnets for most contaminants and people who have Africans, Asians, and Latins might trigger false positives.