Drug Testing FAQs

Is Drug and Alcohol Testing an Invasion of Privacy?

Drug and alcohol testing can raise privacy concerns among workers and employers. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, all employers are obligated to ensure their employees are healthy and safe while in the workplace. Thus, they aren’t permitted to allow a worker to keep working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. However, even as employers conduct drugs and alcohol tests in the interest of public safety, they must have a drug policy in place and conduct the test with the employee's consent. Explicit consent must be obtained from the employee as failure to do that may result in intrusion of privacy contrary to article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Notably, it’s within a person’s right to refuse a drug test if they feel it's an invasion of their privacy.

Does the Drug Testing Kit Show the Quantity of Drugs Consumed?

Drug testing kits analyze a sample to detect the presence of certain illegal or prescription drugs. For instance, a blood MDMA test kit will check the blood sample to screen if there is MDMA in your blood. Most drug testing kits further use a cutoff point to show if the results are above or below the recommended drug limits. Other tests give the results in terms of negative or positive rather than in numerical values.

What Are Immunoassay Drug Tests?

Immunoassay drug tests use oral or urine samples to detect the presence of drugs in a person’s body. These tests detect drugs by testing how certain classes of drugs interact with the body’s antibodies. An immunoassay drug test is also the most likely test you’ll use in your home urine test kit and other commercial test kits, as the test is cheap, easy to use, and gives quick results.

Where Can I Buy a Drug Test?

You can buy a drug test kit from various places, including large pharmacies or drug stores. However, the most convenient place to buy a drug test is from an online retailer such as Drugs Testing Kits UK. At Drugs Testing Kits UK, we have a variety of drug testing kits. Our kits are affordable and reliable. They can also be used in different facilities, including homes, healthcare facilities, workplaces, correctional facilities, and schools. If you order a breathalyzer, a drug test for weed, or any other kit from us, we ship and deliver the product to your doorstep.

Can a Hair Test Demonstrate that a Person Has Stopped Taking a Substance?

Yes, a hair test can prove that a donor has stopped using a substance.  A hair drug test can be used to screen for repeated drug use for up to 90 days before the test. Unlike an oral, urine, or saliva drug test, hair testing has a higher detection window. It’s also the most effective test when it comes to screening for regular drug use. If a person has an illegal drug in their bloodstream, then traces of the drug become part of the hair cells as the hair grows. These traces can take up to four months to disappear from the hair follicles.

Can an Employee Challenge the Results?

Yes, employees can dispute the results of a drug test. If an employee disagrees with the results of a drug test, they should first challenge it through the available employer's internal procedures. For instance, if you suspect that the urine test strips you’re using in the office are giving false positives, you can ask the employer to allow you to take a blood or hair drug test. However, if the employer sticks to their decision, the employee can then appeal to an employment tribunal.

What Is the Control Line C on a Drug Test?

The control line, abbreviated as C, is often found at the top of a drug testing kit. The control line or region indicates that the test kit is working as it should. Every time you administer a drug test, you must check and ensure a colored line appears in the control region of your commercial or home drug test kit, showing the result is valid and non-defective. In case a colored line doesn’t appear in the control region, you should discard the test and administer another test.

What Substances Can Nail Tests Detect?

Nail tests are often done in situations where it’s challenging to use a hair drug test. Fingernails are made of keratin, the same material found in human hair. For instance, a person with no body hair or who is opposed to cutting their hair due to religious beliefs may opt for a nail test. Nail tests are used to test the presence of multiple drug classes in the human body, such as benzodiazepines, barbiturates, amphetamines, opiates, and cocaine. The test can also detect the presence of alcohol, like alcohol testing kits, and other substances such as cannabinoids, tramadol, and ketamine.

What Do the Abbreviations on the Drug Testing Kits Mean?

Because of the limited space on drug test kits, drug test companies use abbreviations to indicate the presence or absence of the tested substance. Knowing what these abbreviations mean is essential as it will help you understand the test results.

What Are Cut-Off Levels?

Drug cut-off levels refer to the levels or thresholds that indicate when the concentration of a drug in your urine, breath, or saliva is a safety threat to others.  Cut-off levels are established as thresholds to help one know when a test is positive or negative for the tested drug. A drug cut-off level will be different for a given drug depending on the testing kit you use. For instance, the cut-off level for a drug test for alcohol will be different when you use a breath alcohol test, an oral test, a hair follicle test, and a urine test.

Can a Drug Test Be Beaten or Adulterated?

Adulteration is when a donor tries to tamper with their drug sample. The use of adulterants can result in a false negative result or interfere with the drug test. Some methods that drug abusers use to beat a drug test include adding substances to the specimen, substituting the saliva, urine, or blood sample with a synthetic one, diluting the specimen, or flushing out the drugs from their system by using commercially available products. To detect drug adulteration, one can use adulteration test strips.