The Different Types of Drug Testing
Introduction: Advancements in Drug Testing Technology
As controversial as it may be... mandated workplace drug testing remains a leading strategy for reducing substance abuse, drug abuse, and addiction in the workplace.
But what is NOT controversial is that illicit substances ruin lives.
Substance abuse is guaranteed to impact the quality and safety of work, whether it be crunching numbers at a desk or moving tons of dirt with heavy machinery. Not to mention the horrific damage it wrecks on your relationships and physical health.
Over the past few years, the healthcare industry has taken steps forward in how drug abuse is tested in the workplace. The process is now more accurate, reliable, quick, simple, and diversified. With these new and improved types of drug testing, employers can now do a better job at promoting a safe and healthy worksite and hiring the best employees.
Overview of Drug Detection Mechanisms
These types of drug testing are all about looking for specific chemicals that are unique to illegal substances. When people take illicit drugs, their bodies break them down into different molecules, which diffuse into cell membranes. As a result, traces of drugs can linger in the body for hours, days, and sometimes weeks, and can be tested in things like pee, hair, blood, or spit.
Tests look for these specific molecules
Each of the following different types of drug tests come with draw backs: some are more expensive or difficult to perform, while others have a narrow "detection window" (specific timeframe that drugs were taken).
What Substances Can Be Detected in a Drug Test?
According to the Mayo Clinic: "The Department of Health and Human Services' guidelines for the workplace require testing for the following 5 substances: amphetamines, cannabinoids, cocaine, opiates, and phencyclidine". These include substances such as meth, cocaine, speed, marijuana, PCP, and prescribed pain killers.
However, the 10 panel illegal drug test is much more thorough, and has become more popular for employers in industries where a single bad day could cost the lives of workers. These look for amphetamines, THC, Cocaine, Opiates, Phencyclidine, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Methaqualone, Methadone, and Propoxyphene.
Guardian Health can provide all these types of drug testing.
Please call (509) 402-2880 or email us at Erin@guardianocchealth.com.
We'll arrange tests for everyone in your WA or ID business.
The 5 Primary Types of Drug Testing
Breath Alcohol Tests
Of all these tests, breath alcohol testing is surely the most recognizable. Just drive down Sprague in Spokane on a Friday night and you are sure to see somebody pulled over by a cop, blowing into a white plastic thingy.
Nearly all breathalyzers use one of three technologies, but basically you blow into one and the alcohol content in your CO2 chemically reacts with some potassium dichromate, or is measured via electrical current or infrared light.
However, these have major downsides:
1) they only measure alcohol
2) they only measure if one is under the influence at that exact moment.
While handy on the worksite to confirm that the empty flask or bottles were consumed during work hours, they are meaningless to determine if off-duty substance abuse is impacting work performance.
Saliva Tests
One of the most convenient types of drug testing is the saliva tests, or a mouth swab drug test. For both the healthcare worker and employee, these are basically no hassle at all.
What makes these so easy?
1) You don't have to send the results to a lab; they can be measured right here in our clinic.
2) They are easy to perform; just gather some saliva with sterilized cotton swab
3) Unless you passionately make out with someone riiiiight before the test, its awfully hard to cheat the results (that was a joke... please do not do that)
But they are time sensitive. These types of drug tests can only detect drug use within the past 48 hours. They are also limited in what they can detect, but they detect some of the most common illicit substances (marijuana, cocain, and amphetamines).
Urine Tests
Urine tests, often called urinalysis, is considered one of the most accurate types of drug testing. It is one of the most common drug tests, used by workers, athletes, and military alike.
There are two versions: immunoassay is cheap, but cant detect opioids and is more likely to render false positives. The other is gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which is more expensive, but also exhaustive.
Urine testing are also tricky because different substances linger for different amounts of time. For example, while Oxycodone can only be detected for 4 days, benzodiazepines can be traced up to 30 days.
Additionally, since one is alone when conducting the test and not observed by test administrators, there are notorious for cheating. That is why proper practice insists that any bags, jackets, and deep pockets are emptied and left outside the bathroom before the individual pees into the cup.
Some businesses require testing of not only illicit substances, but legal ones as well. Urine tests are ideal for these situations, as it is a cheap and non-invasive way to detect over-the-counter medicines, alcohol, and tobacco.
Blood Tests
Of all the types of drug testing, this is "the big kahuna" (but that doesn't necessarily mean "best"...)
It is the only truly invasive procedure, requiring a trained professional (like a nurse or a doctor) to administer, and a different professional to run the tests back at the lab.
Because they are so direct and thorough, they give crystal clear answers since they measure drugs or alcohol right there in your blood. But only for that specific moment... which is why it's mostly used in special cases, like if there is an accident and you need absolute certainty for a potential trial or criminal charge.
Long story short: it one of the most expensive, complicated, but accurate types of drug testing an employer can choose for their employees. But they can't tell you anything about how long someone has been using drugs or if they did so in the past.
Hair Follicle Tests
Hair follicle tests have one major advantage: they can spot traces of some substances in the system for up to 3 months.
When someone takes illegal drugs, the chemicals enter their blood stream.
Blood circulates throughout the body, including into hair
But unlike saliva, hair is stable; it grows rather than "refreshes"
This makes human hair a sort of short-term chemical database for past substance abuse
A hair test is hard to cheat and tests for up to 90 days.
For hair testing , a licensed physician takes a little bit of hair from either the head or body. This hair sample then goes off to a lab where experts check it out. Since the hair is clipped directly from the employees body, they are extremely hard to cheat at.
And don't worry, hair drug testing won't mess up any fancy haircut you got!
What About Prescription Drugs?
If you have a prescription for a pain killer from a licensed doctor, be sure to inform your drug testing administrators. They will be able to perform alternative tests that ignore your legal and necessary medication, which will avoid a false positive. You do not need to inform your employer about your prescriptions, as this is sensitive information private to you.
Is Smoking Ok? And Can Secondhand Smoke Affect a Drug Test?
Unless you are lighting up around babies, tobacco and second hand smoke will not give you a positive test result and will not get you in trouble. The tests are extremely specific in what they are looking for.
Conclusion: Choose What is Best for Your Business
All the types of drug testing come with their own set of pros and cons. But with technology getting better all the time, these methods are only becoming more affordable, accurate, and easier to perform. There is optimism that with advancements and variety, workplace scheduled and random drug testing can become an irrefutable positive for workers, businesses, and communities alike.
