Drug tests are called different things, including sports doping tests, tox screen, toxicology screen, substance abuse testing, drugs of abuse testing, and drug screen, but all mean the same thing. As the name suggests, these are tests that are widely used as tools in checking for the presence of illicit or prescription drugs in biological samples like sweat, hair, urine, saliva, or blood. Today, the most common type of drug test that’s carried out is urine drug tests.
Examples of drugs that are often tested for include phencyclidine (PCP), barbiturates like secobarbital and phenobarbital, steroids, cocaine, amphetamines including methamphetamines, opioids (fentanyl, hydrocodone, morphine, oxycodone, codeine, and heroin), and marijuana.
Uses of Drug Tests
Drug screening or tests are used for different purposes, but mostly to check whether a person is taking drugs they shouldn’t of abusing controlled drugs. These tests are mostly used for the following purposes:
- Monitoring opioid use: If you’re suffering from chronic pain, whether due to cancer or not, your physician will order you to get a drug test to ensure that you’re not using opioids before and also to determine the right amount of opioids to include in your therapeutic plan.
- Legal or forensic purposes: These tests are sometimes used in determining the cause of a motor vehicle or criminal accident. In some cases, drug tests may be requested as part of a court case.
- Sports organizations: Collegiate and professional athletes are mostly required to carry out drug tests as a way of ensuring that their physical performance is purely natural and not aided by any drug or illicit substance.
- Employment: Some employers usually include drug tests to their screen processes to ensure that their employers won’t use drugs while at work. It is also a way of ensuring work productivity.
Types of Drug Tests
There are many types of drug tests available for use, and they all offer different levels of accuracy. In all, the accuracy of these tests depends on different factors, including the amount of drug consumed, the individual’s body, type of drug consumed, presence of drugs that can give false positive, and other factors.
Here are the different types of drug tests used today:
Urine Drug Tests
As mentioned earlier, urine drug tests are the most commonly used drug tests today, and this is mainly because of their level of accuracy and the fact that they are noninvasive and inexpensive. Employers today use these test methods to screen people during hiring processes. It is also used by probation officers while ensuring that a person on parole is free of drugs. In general, the test works by analyzing the presence of drug metabolites in urine. The amazing thing about this type of drug test is that it can detect the presence of drugs, even if it was used several days before the actual test was carried out. However, the test results depend on the among of substances and also the type of substance consumed.
Hair Drug Tests
This is also a drug test that’s used, but not as frequently as urine drug tests. It is more expensive to perform and would require hair strands from the subject to be tested. Also, some hair drug tests can only be carried out in a medical setting, unlike other drug tests that are can be carried out even at home. Urine test can be used to determine the exact amount of drugs that the person consumed over the past few days, while hair drugs can provide more accurate results about the presence of drugs, even if it was taken 90 days before the test.
Saliva Drug Tests
This type of drug test is also not as common as urine tests, and even though it is a less invasive type of test, it will require a person to spit. Also, evidence shows that the drug tests have a shorter detection time window lasting between a few hours to two days.
Blood Drug Tests
This is a more invasive type of drug test compared to the other tests mentioned, which is why it’s rarely used. The test gives a higher level of accuracy and can tell the exact substance that is compared, and not just the chemical that is left behind by the substance. Another reason why this type of drug test is not mostly used is that the level of accuracy is only if the drug is taken within a few hours.
Breathalyzer
This is a drug test that’s mostly used in checking the presence of alcohol in the bloodstream. These types of drug tests are mostly accurate and can easily determine if a person is drug or not. However, it’s important to note that the test is also subject to error. The margin of error for some breathalyzers is around 0.01%. The main issue with this drug test is that it can only tell if a person is currently intoxicated by alcohol, and with that, it won’t show if a person got intoxicated the night before or some days before.
These are the most common types of drugs tests. Irrespective of what you might have heard about drug tests, it’s important to note that you can never beat a drug test by pretending. Still there are few ways people use to alter the test results. Also, no drug test is 100% more accurate than the other, and as such, even if you dilute the drug from your system, these tests will still detect its presence in your body. For detailed information about drug test and ways people use to alter the results, thblack is your go-to place. At the website you can trust the content as they are written and proofread by professionals. You can also compare the supplements products and read reviews as well.
