usa drug test » Illicit Drugs

Know About One Step Multi-Drug Screen Test

UsaDrugTest — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:07:46 +0000

Drug abuse is a major issue as many people irrespective of age and gender are getting addicted to illicit drugs. According to NSDUH 2007, 114 million Americans of 12 years and above, accounting 46% of the population reported drug abuse at least once in their entire life time. This fact alone states the severity of drug abuse in the United States. To check the drug abuse, instant drug testing kits are playing an important role. Of them, one step multi-drug screen test is unique, as it screens 12 most commonly abused drugs at a time with single device and a single sample.

The twelve drugs:

The one step multi-drug screen test provides quick and quality results of multiple drugs and drug metabolites in urine specimen. This test card tests for combination of Cocaine, Amphetamine, Methamphemine, Marijuana(THC), Methadone, Opiates, Phencyclidine, Barbiturate, Benzodiazepine, Propoxyphene, Tricyclics, and Oxycodone. This drug test is FDA approved.

How to take the test:

The one step multi-drug screen test is simple to administer, designed in the dip-and-read model to check most commonly abused drugs. Make sure that the test card and urine specimen reach the room temperature before testing. Remove the test card from the pouch and discard the moisture absorbent packet. Immerse the test strip in urine with arrows pointing towards the urine specimen, for 10-15 seconds. Do not cross the maximum (MAX) line while immersing the test strip in the urine sample. Put the test card on non-absorbent flat surface, start the timer and wait for red lines to appear. Take the results at five minutes and do not measure after ten minutes.

Interpretation of the test:

With a one step multi-drug screen test, results are available within 5 to 10 minutes, which are 95% to 98% accurate. For a positive result, a red line appears in control region and no line appears in test region. For a negative result, one red appears in control region and another red or pink line in the test region. For an invalid result, a line in control region fails to appear, which generally is caused due to insufficient specimen volume or incorrect procedural techniques. The cut-off levels in one step multi-drug screen test are set to the SAMHSA cut-off levels.

A considerable number of people are abusing illicit drugs causing a major threat to their health and safety. In order to detect and avoid drug abuse in your near ones, one step multi-drug screen test can be helpful to you either at your home or workplace with instant and accurate results.

Saliva/oral Drug Testing – a Solution to Corporate Drug Testing

UsaDrugTest — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:58:56 +0000

The fact that America consumes 60% of the world’s illicit drugs (Drug Enforcement Administration) makes employee drug testing compulsory for the US companies to maintain the work standards. Drug testing to the employees is an issue to many of the organizations as it involves many issues such as privacy, sample adulteration, complexity, time and cost involved in drug testing. Saliva drug testing is an ideal solution for these problems making corporate drug testing easier and efficient.

A major concern of drug testing at workplace is the privacy of the candidate. Using saliva drug testing sample collection is less hazardous and less embarrassing for the parties. Oral fluid drug testing is socially acceptable and is not degrading unlike urine drug testing. There is no need for privacy during sample collection. Saliva drug test is considered as donor friendly, as it has easy to collect specimen procedure.

Another issue in corporate drug testing is the cost involved in the entire process. Sample collection through the regular urine based drug testing techniques, sending them to the laboratory and getting results is quite expensive which is not affordable to small organizations. Saliva drug testing makes it cost effective by simplifying the process through uncomplicated sample collection, onsite testing and instant results.

Most of the organizations depend on age old Urine drug testing process, which is subject to adulteration and substitution, and it does not include screening for prescription painkillers. Oral fluid-based testing cannot be cheated because specimen collection is directly monitored, which makes it more efficient when compared to urine drug testing.

Industry experts consider implementing random drug testing as the most effective method to deter on-the-job drug abuse. Urine drug testing does not support random testing as both the parties are uncomfortable with the complex process. Oral fluid drug testing enables the employers to conduct random drug testing with ease in no time.

According to DEA, each year, the costs to U.S. employers exceed $140 billion, as 77% of all drug abusers are employed, and eight to ten percent of workers in any company abuse drugs. On average, each drug abuser costs a corporation $10,000 per year. These statistics sense the urgency of efficient organizational drug testing that could be possible by oral fluid drug testing. This is because it can be used in all the cases of pre-employment, random, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, return-to-duty drug testing, which are necessary to an organization to deter drug abuse at the work place.

Drug Screening Test

UsaDrugTest — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Drug testing is different from the drug screening test. A drug screening test is a rapid diagnostic test, which gives qualitative results regarding the presence or absence of the drug. These tests can even detect nicotine, alcohol, caffeine and many more commonly used drugs. There is no need to fast or to follow any special dietary restrictions before going for any drug screening test.

Immunoassay and chromatography

Immunoassays are used world wide for the rapid screening of drugs and recommended as useful tool for screening. Immunoassays works on the principle of antigen-antibody interaction and Chromatography is based on subjective judgment of a technician.

The analysis of confirmation with conclusive methods (GC-MS or chromatography) is inevitable for the valid identification of substance, the detection of the congeners, and the precise determination of the concentrations in the body liquids. Though these are highly valuable tools for testing illicit drugs, there is a real risk of false-positive and false-negative findings when tests are used by non-professionals.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity in drug testing means the probability of a positive test result for a drug abuse suspect. Sensitivity test tracks the efficacy of drug treatments based on the impact on functioning of different body organs. It can be used as a tool to help in determining whether a treatment with a particular drug should be continued, modified or stopped. It also checks for any subtle changes in the vision, which is resulted from any therapy.

Specificity

Probability of a negative result in the drug test for any suspect who does not abuse drugs is referred as specificity. Each testing method has sensitivity, specificity, reproducibility and reliability of results for regulatory or approval results. The accuracy of drug testing reflects both chemical factors, which influences test results such as sensitivity and specificity and as well as pharmacological considerations like drug dose, times of drug use etc.

For measuring the level of drugs in the body the immunoassay and chromatography can be adapted. Screening assays are less expensive and less labor intensive than sensitivity and specificity. The above information helps the individuals who want to go for the simple and easy process of drug screening test.