PROFESSIONAL DRUG TESTING KITS: HOW LONG CAN DRUGS BE DETECTED AFTER USE?

drugtestingkitsukSep 29, 2023

Companies & organisations will often need employees to pass an on-site multi-screen drug test (such as the British & Southern Ireland-approved, premium quality, highly accurate, non-invasive Professional-Use Drug Testing Kits UK. - All of which can be administered by a dedicated member of staff who has learned to use the tests from the instructions, (and practiced on a couple of people). Of note: "some drugs will be detectable after months, but some vanish in hours. The type, amount & frequency of the drug being taken, along with many other factors, will determine how long it will stay in the employee's system" [1]

Drug Detection in the Body

Our FREE Professional Advisory Team here at Drug Testing Kits UK, have found that countless employers are surprised to learn that: "many drugs stay in the system from 2 to 4 days, although chronic use of marijuana can stay in the system for 3 to 4 weeks or even longer after the last use. Drugs with a long half-life [see below], may also stay in the system for a prolonged period of time [2]. Please feel free to message or phone the team to discuss any questions or concerns that you may have, or to ask about bulk professional-use testing kit discounts on packs of state-of-the-art 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, & 100 drug & alcohol tests tests. - We are always here to serve our customers!

Examples include:

Did You Know?

There are a substantial number of variables which can impact the length of time that a drug remains detectable in biological samples; for example, in workplace saliva and urine tests. These variables include: the route of administration, frequency of use, fluid balance and hydration, and the drug's half-life. And this is a very strong reason why our Science Advisor at Drug Testing Kits UK, recommends random drug testing in the workplace, alongside periodic scheduled on-site drug tests.

So What's a Drug's Half-Life Exactly?

"The half-life of a drug is an estimate of the time it takes for the concentration or amount in the body of that drug to be reduced by exactly one-half (50%). The symbol for half-life is t½" [2]. There are however, countless individual employee specific variables which can affect this half-life. These incorporate the employee's:

Age
Gender
Excessive fluid (such as in individuals with odema or heart failure), or dehydration (low fluid levels)
Blood circulation
Weight/Obesity
History of former drug use
Smoking
Diet (e.g., green vegetables, grapefruit juice, and certain drugs such as warfarin)
Kidney function (in the case of drugs which are cleared through the kidneys)
Liver function (for drugs which are metabolised via the liver)
Pre-existing conditions (including pregnancy, gastrointestinal issues, and heart failure)
Presence of drugs which compete for binding sites or interact in other ways
Race/ethnicity or genetics (which can impact drug metabolism)
Other variables (for example, if the employee has hemodialysis) [2]

Because of these factors, two employees using the same illegal substance could have a very different experience

Drug-Specific Variables Which Could Impact a Half-Life

Drug formulation (for example, controlled or modified release preparations extend half-life)
How the drug reacts in the body
How the drug is administered (for instance, half-life can be different with intravenous administration, when compared to oral or intranasal administration)
The volume of the drug's distribution
Whether the drug accumulates in body fat or other forms of tissue
The way in which the drug is cleared from the body (for example, via the lungs, liver, or kidneys)
Whether or not the drug binds to proteins
The presence of metabolites or other drugs in the body, that may generate an interaction
Various properties of the drug (for instance, charge, molecule size, charge; and pKa - the number that shows how weak or strong an acid is) [2]

The Following table serves as a rough guide. - This is because there are so many variables, it is impossible to be precise. With regard to the detection time when a workplace urine test is given to employees: for example, Drug Testing Kits UK's, very inexpensive, best-selling 10 Panel Multi-Drug Urine Cup (which tests for 10 commonly used drugs all-in-one go, and offers highly accurate results within a few minutes): you will see in the 'Detection Time in Urine' column, that employees could have consumed these drugs 3 to 5 days before the day of the test. And it is often the case, that when Periodic Testing is conducted, staff who abuse drugs are quite shocked at their positive results.

DRUG	CLASS	COMMON NAMES	BRAND NAME	DETECTION TIME IN URINE
Amphetamine	Stimulant	Speed	Benzedrine, Dexedrine	As long as 2 days
Barbiturates	Depressants/ hypnotics/ sedatives /	Downers, reds, barbs,	Amytal, Donna, Fiorinal, Nembutal	Short-acting: 2 days Long-acting: 1-3 weeks (Based on half-life)
Benzodiazepines	Depressants/ hypnotics/ sedatives	Bennies	Valium, Serax, Xanax, Ativan	Therapeutic dose: 3 days Chronic use: 4-6 weeks-plus
(Benzoyl ecgonine metabolite)	Stimulant	Cocaine, coke, rock, crack	Not applicable	Up to 4 days
Codeine	Analgesic/ Opiate	Not applicable	Not applicable	2 days
Ethyl alcohol, Ethanol	Depressants/ hypnotics/ sedatives	Alcohol, beer, wine, liquor, booze	Not applicable	Urine: 2 to 12 hours Serum/plasma: 1 to 12 hours
Heroin	Analgesic / Opiate	Smack, tar, chasing the tiger	Not applicable	2 days
Marijuana, Cannabinoids	Hallucinogen	Weed, hash, pot, dope, hemp	Marinol, Cesamet	Single use: 2 to 7 days Prolonged, chronic use: 1 to 2 months-plus
Methadone	Analgesic/ Opiate	Fizzies	Dolophine	3 days
Methamphetamine	Stimulant	Ice, speed, crystal, crank	Desoxyn, Methedrine	Up to 2 days
Methaqualone	Depressants/ hypnotics/ sedatives	Ludes, 714, disco, lemmons, bisquits	Quaalude	Up to 14 days
MDMA (Methylenedioxy- methamphetamine)	Stimulant	Ecstacy, ADAM, lover’s speed, XTC	Not applicable	Up to 2 days
Morphine	Analgesic/ Opiate	Not applicable	Roxanol, Duramorph	2 days
Phencyclidine		PCP, angel dust	Not applicable	8-14 days, but up to 30 days in chronic users