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DRUG TESTING

Why test for illegal drug use?

The average employer loses $7,000 per year, per employee who abuses drugs and/or alcohol.

Organizations that deal in the sale of illegal drugs have very elaborate and detailed plans, to very specific target markets. The two primary markets targeted are the blue-collar worker (usually at work) and students at public schools and universities. Their plan is to obtain their clients when they are young (our children) and maintain the relationship into their working years.

THE DRUG COLLECTION PROCESS

The Standard - Urine Testing

Urine drug testing has long been the accepted standard in virtually all courts and business as the most efficient, least invasive, and most reliable means of detecting the illegal use and abuse of drugs. Most companies have adopted the Department of Transportation (DOT) drug cut-off levels to eliminate the objection of "passive inhalation," "second hand smoke," "poppy seeds," and other causes for testing positive other than abuse.

ADULTERATION, SUBSTITUTION AND DILUTION

When a user of illegal drugs is sent for a urine drug test, many times the donor will attempt to alter his/her urine, either internally or externally, in order to avoid the detection by a laboratory of an illegal substance in the urine. The three methods used to alter or change a urine specimen are:

Adulteration

The addition of a substance to the urine at the time of the collection is generally how adulteration is done; however, there are some commercially available products that are sold specifically as adulterants to add substances to one's urine to interfere with the testing process. There is also potential health risk to such internal adulterant; however, the actual risk is unknown. All SAMHSA-certified laboratories test for adulterants in urine.

Substitution

Using a urine specimen that is known to be free of any illegal drug is the most successful method of altering test results. However, the donor must be able to conceal the specimen from the collector, keep it at body temperature and transfer it into the collection container within a very short time. One of the more common practices used by drug users in the medical field is the reverse catheter. A donor will empty his/her own bladder, insert a catheter, and insert someone else's drug-free urine through the catheter into his/her own bladder. There are also expensive devices that may be purchased for this very purpose. Although there is no test to determine if a substituted specimen has been used, collectors are well trained to detect the substitution of specimens.

Dilution

Adding a dilutant (water) to a specimen is the most common form of alteration. The collection process, along with the need to keep the dilutant at body temperature, has greatly reduced this practice. All SAMHSA-certified laboratories test specific gravity and creatinine levels for evidence of dilution.

DRUG ALTERING PRODUCTS

Tests for pH and creatinine can aid in the detection of common methods for defeating urine drug tests, including dilution or adulteration of the sample with bleach, vinegar, Visine, sodium bicarbonate, Drano, soft drinks or hydrogen peroxide.

Commercially available adulterants such as UrinAid and Instant Clean Add-it-ive produce glutaraldehyde. Glutaraldehyde is not normally in urine and detection generally indicates use of an adulterant.

Other commercially available products, Klear and Whizzies, produce the presence of nitrate in the urine, which is not normally present. If nitrate is detected in the urine specimen, it is an indicator of adulteration.

The Urinator is a device that the donor wears, allowing him/her to carry a drug-free specimen, unnoticed, into the collection area. The donor maintains body temperature via a self-contained, battery-operated, thermostatically controlled heater.

Urine specific gravity and creatinine values are useful in detecting in vitro (within the body) and in vitro (from outside the body) dilution of urine samples.

The products below are used primarily to keep laboratories from detecting drugs in urine. Most are commercially available.

PASSIVE INHALATION, POPPY SEEDS AND SECOND HAND SMOKE

Passive inhalation, poppy seeds and second hand smoke are all reasons that donors who test positive cite to dismiss their illegal drug use-even though many studies indicate they cannot cause a positive reading. However, the most devastating argument against all of these excuses is the ever-increasing cutoff levels established by federal regulations and adopted by non-federally regulated industry.

DRUG TEST CUTOFF LEVELS

Those who established cutoff levels for drug testing have gone through some tough times trying to prove to the doubting public, politicians, unions and employers that the drug cutoff levels were already too high. Therefore, it has always been easier to raise the limits to eliminate the passive inhalation, poppy seeds, and second hand smoke excuses than to fight the many opposing studies conducted by questionable research groups.

The following cutoff levels are currently being used by all SAMHSA- certified laboratories:

The screen cutoff is the highest level of drugs detected in the urine that will still report as negative. The confirmation test is only done when the screen test results exceed the screen cutoff levels. Confirmation cutoff levels indicate the highest level of drugs detected in the urine that will report as negative. Ng/ml equals nanograms per milliliter, indicating the weight of drug detected to the volume of specimen.