usa drug test » Opiates

The Future Of Drug Testing – Hair Sampling

UsaDrugTest — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:08:49 +0000

One may consider the hair as a person’s crowning glory. In fact, most people spend hours in front of the mirror fixing their hair. Aside from making each one of us look good, the hair has yet another function you might be interested in. In today’s modern world, there comes another way of detecting drugs in individuals. Yes, using the hair! And it is actually the most accurate method of detecting drug abuse in individuals. It can detect drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, opiates and the like. It is known as the hair drug test.

1. Ten Times More Effective Than Urine Drug Tests

With this kind of modern and convenient method, it is now easy for schools and even employers to test students and employees to determine whether or not they have drugs in their system. Hair drug tests come in handy kits with instructions on how to get hair specimens, then send it to the laboratory for evaluation.

2. How It Works:

According to studies, when a person takes in drugs, as with any other substances, such as food, medicines, or drinks, it mixes with our blood, and as we all know, the blood nourishes all parts of our body, including the head. Hints of these chemicals then become trapped or filtered through the hair follicle, thus, as the hair grows, these chemicals are stored in the hair. Interestingly, these chemicals become a part of the hair itself.

- Very accurate – Chemicals in the hair can be traced – Traces not just drugs in system at the time, but over the past three months! – A two-inch sample can give that persons drug history for a four month period of time – Hair drug testing is much more costly than urine testing – Hair testing is now widely used due to it’s effectiveness

3. How It’s Done:

- A hair drug test involves cutting a minimum of 50 strands of hair – Hair must be cut approximately one and a half inches from the scalp – Hair is then sent to the drug testing laboratory – The hair is actually screened and reviewed, then liquified for final testing – There are lots of hair drug testing kits available today

4. Hair Drug Testing Kits

Hair drug testing kits, though widely available, are not affordable. Prices range from $50-$69 for a complete kit. Laboratory processing fees are usually included when you make your purchase.

One point of view to consider tough – a positive test result does not automatically mean the person uses illegal drugs. In fact, positive results are sometimes triggered by other legal substances. One maybe is under medication or taking maintenance medications, or over-the-counter medications. It is wise therefore, that when the confirmation test comes back positive, it is important for a doctor, nurse, or other specialist to review the results and determine if illegal drugs are indeed the guilty party.

5. Beating Hair Drug Tests Is Impossible

Now other smart individuals are finding ways and means to beat the hair drug tests. Some say one can pass it through a kind of shampoo, especially from companies that claim that their shampoo cleans off all the toxins in the hair, but they are wrong. These toxins are already part of the hair follicle’s structure, cleaning it will literally mean taking it all off. The hair is like a plant. If a plant grows in a toxic environment, it will absorb toxins and toxins will become part of its structure – no amount of shampoo will change that.

As we cannot clean off toxins in the hair, can we mask it by bleach or dyeing one’s hair? Maybe for a time, yes we can. But then, our skin is made up of fatty tissues. These fatty tissues are responsible for storing toxins in the body. When our body sweats, it gives off skin oil and release toxins, and these will be touched and be absorbed by the hair. It’s like a cycle. The masked hair will then be contaminated once more.

Others shave off their hair, but sad to say, toxins don’t leave the body anytime soon. If you are being kept in confinement, your hair will slowly grow back in, and your drug use history will come back for all to see with it.

Benefits of Clia Waived Drug Tests

UsaDrugTest — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:16:20 +0000

CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment) Act was established in 1988 to set high quality laboratory testing methods to ensure accurate, reliable, timely test results etc. CLIA has categorized laboratory testing based on the test complexity of the performance and as per requirement of the laboratories. Waived drug test is one of the categorized laboratories testing with fulfillment of above requirements of the Act. Simple laboratory examination and procedures that are cleared by FDA for home use is known as waived drug test and mainly used to conduct preliminary or initial drug test.

Benefits of CLIA Waived Drug Test

Organizations provide various waived drug testing kits with 18 months durability from date of manufacturing and to be stored at room temperature. CLIA waived drug test uses simple and accurate methodologies to render appropriate test results without any risk of inconvenience for the patients. Many people are getting benefited with use this drug test like detection of drugs and few benefits are discussed below.

•    Detects up to 12 drugs at a time: 12 drugs can be detected with help of 12 panel CLIA waived drug testing kit at a time. Amphetamine, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Cocaine, Ecstasy, Marijuana, Methadone, Methamphetamine, Morphine, Opiates, Oxycodone and Phencyclidine are the drugs that can be detectable using this drug test. SAMHSA cutoff levels are used to detect the above drugs.

•    Results are known in minutes: Results of test are known within 5 minutes and results are stable for 8 hrs from the time of performing the test. High quality standards with different methods of performing this test.

•    Small quantity of specimen: This test can be performed on different specimens as per the kits available like urine, hair, blood etc. specimen collected for conducting these are about 3 ml. No extensive paper is required for sample collection and for conducting the test. There is no chance of specimen tampering or adulterating.

•    Simple procedure: Very easy and simple procedure is followed for collection of specimen and performing the drug test. In hospitals, laboratories and at home this test is used very commonly, specified person is required for conducting these tests.

Accurate results: This test ensures accuracy, reliability and timeliness among the testing results. The main objective of CLIA is to provide quality laboratory testing results. These drug testing kits are approved by FDA.

Waived drug tests are affordable and fine effective, can be used at home, laboratories and hospitals. It helps you to test on your own to find any drug levels in your body or in your family members. The above points give you necessary information about CLIA waived drug test, procedure and benefits.

Hair Follicle Drug Test

UsaDrugTest — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:31:47 +0000

Hair sample drug testing is a great way to detect whether or not a person has used drugs in the past 90 days. Hair sample drug test is efficient in determining an individual’s drug use history when compared with other drug tests because trace amounts of drug chemicals become trapped inside cortex of each hair. The presence of drugs in hair is based on a simple principle. Drugs that are ingested circulate in a person’s bloodstream that nourishes developing hair follicles. A simple lab test can detect these trace chemicals making for either a positive or negative test result.

Hair Follicle Drug Test:

Hair drug screen is the method for detecting drugs in hair using enzyme-immunoassay (EIA). EIA measures the drug molecules in the hair, which were deposited into the hair follicle after the drug was used. The five drug classes mandated by the Federal Government for hair drug testing are: Cocaine (Cocaine & Benzoylecgonine), Marijuana (THC), Opiates (Codeine, Morphine & 6- Monacteyl Morphine), Methamphetamine (Meth, Amphetamine & Ecstasy) and Phencyclidine (PCP).

Before the hair follicle drug test is actually started, the shell of the hair strands is stripped away to eliminate any external contaminants. The sensitivity levels for hair follicle drug test are different for the drug tested. The sensitivity levels for the hair follicle drug test are measured in terms of Pico grams per Milliliter (pg/ml). The cutoff level for Marijuana metabolite class is 1 pg/ml. where as for Opiates class it is 500 pg/ml. The other three classes Cocaine metabolite, Phencyclidine (PCP) and Amphetamines/Methamphetamine MDMA (Ecstasy) have sensible levels at 300 pg/ml.

Advantages of Hair Follicle Drug Test:

An illegal drugs substance abuser may abstain from using drugs for 3 days to 2 weeks prior to applying for a job. With traditional drug testing, there is a good chance that the applicants will test negative and then start using again once they are hired in. There is also the chance of adulterating the specimen. Companies that implement hair follicular drug testing can be relieved to know that this is not possible with hair testing. Abstaining or adulterating the specimen cannot beat hair tests.

Employee drug testing programs often incorporate hair follicle drug testing into their plans because of the sheer accuracy of these tests. Likewise, hair follicle drug testing does not involve the embarrassing collection of samples like that of urine or saliva drug tests. In most cases, a few strands of hair are all that is needed to obtain accurate results.

Home Drug Test Market Sees OxyContin Test Fill A Vital Niche for Parents

UsaDrugTest — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:44:15 +0000

The Problem of Prescription Oxycodone Abuse

As you may know, prescription drug abuse has developed into a huge problem in the United States. For example, a 2005 Monitoring the Future survey of high school students showed that OxyContin abuse went up among 12th graders by 40 percent in 3 years. OxyContin is one of the many generic names for drugs that include the narcotic oxycodone.

When used as prescribed, drugs like OxyContin and Percocet (which also contains oxycodone) provide much needed pain relief to cancer patients and people recovering from surgery. When incorrectly used however, OxyContin earns its nickname “hillbilly heroin” by producing heroin-like highs in the user and doing so in many cases more cheaply than heroin itself. This is why the Oxycodone, or OxyContin Test, developed – in response to a growing problem that needed a solution.

Before the OxyContin Test was made, there was no 98% accurate way for a urine drug test buyer to test for oxycodone based drugs, even though they do have much in common with opium and heroin, drugs which can all be tested for at once.

The Difference Between Opiates and Opioids

To understand why oxycodone needs its own home drug test, first we must examine how the drugs of concern here are classified. They are all opioids. Opioids are chemicals that work on the brain’s opioid receptors. Endorphins, for example, are opioids produced naturally by the body. Morphine, opium, heroin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone (Vicodin) are all opioids too. They are so similar, but they cannot all be detected by the same drug screen. Why?

FDA cleared urine drug tests for Opiates that are on the market are made to detect specifically morphine or specifically heroin. An Opiates test that has a 300 nanogram per milliliter cutoff level is one that is looking for morphine-based drugs, while an Opiates test that has a 2000 nanogram per milliliter cutoff level is looking for heroin and opium. Morphine does have a lot in common with oxycodone, as they are both opioids, but morphine can be found naturally, whereas oxycodone cannot. Oxycodone must be made in a lab. This leads to some structural differences.

While a urine drug test for Opiates can pick up morphine, heroin, and so on, depending on the cut-off level, it can only detect oxycodone/OxyContin in great quantities – overdose levels. So a new design was called for to deal with the prescription drug abuse problem.

The OxyContin / Vicodin Test

The same technology used to create other urine drug tests was used to make the oxycodone test. It can pick up OxyContin, Vicodin (made of acetaminophen and hydrocodone, a drug very similar to oxycodone), Percocet and other hydrocodone, hydromorphone, or oxycodone-based drugs with 98% accuracy. This is a much greater accuracy for these drugs than was available with either of the two versions of the opiates urine drug test. Depending on metabolism and other factors, oxycodone appears in urine 2-5 hours after it is used and disappears from urine 2-4 days later. The new oxycodone specific drug tests can find oxycodone in urine at the level of 100 nanograms per milliliter, a very small amount.

Making the Right Choices as a Consumer of a Home Drug Test

Whether you are a member of a police department, a worried parent or a friend, it is important to have the right information in hand when making a decision about how to deal with drug abuse. If you suspect drug abuse and want to test for it, make sure you choose a test that targets the drug at hand. You might think that an opiates drug test could detect oxycodone, since opiates in general and oxycodone are very similar. This is not the case when it comes to the home drug test options though and a careful shopper will have the most success in finding oxycodone.