The drug test of choice among the bulk of employers in the U.S. is the urine test, which proves to be quick, relatively inexpensive, and the most effective means for detecting most common street drugs, including marijuana.
These tests require a private area, such as a restroom, for the person being tested to deposit his or her urine. It also requires a kit that includes test strips which change color in accordance to the particular substance that is detected. A color table—including a list of abbreviations for each of the drugs—is included to interpret the results from the strip, which will indicate a negative result immediately. However, the tester must wait at least five minutes to allow the strip to indicate a positive result.
How Easy is it to Fake a Urine Test?
Keeping the test sample free of contaminants and other foreign substances is vital. Usually, the only ways a person can circumvent the test is by somehow gaining a drug-free person’s urine and putting it in their vial, introducing a foreign substance into the vial that masks the trace of drugs, or flushing fluids from their body two to three days before the test. These tactics are certainly not easy, however, because not many known substances can accomplish such masking without being detected. Further, as long as the test is conducted in a particular section of a building and the person being screened is not dawdling too long, the chances for faking test results are minimal.
How Long Does Each Test Take?
A test should only take 10 minutes or less, depending on whether the strip indicates positive or negative results and whether the test strips have been kept sealed in their foil packets entirely up to the time they are dipped into the vial of urine.
When Should the Test be Administered?
A urine test can be conducted at any time. It should be noted, however, that urine tests are not necessarily good at detecting alcohol abuse. Also, a urine test’s window for detection of drug use is up to 72 hours before the test. This is why those trying to circumvent the test by flushing their system do so within three days of testing.
Best Urine Drug Tests of 2017
10 Panel PreScreen Cup (CLIA Waived Model)
12 Panel PreScreen Dip Card (CLIA Waived Model)
