Well, you see, I have this, uh, friend. And he has a puff if Dreaded Killer Weed once in a while. Every now and then. And he has a chance at what is otherwise a pretty cool job BUT he has to pee in a test tube and prove that he isn’t what he is. My friend, that is. Who’s really a pretty decent sort of fellow, over all. And the job isn’t “saftey sensitive” or anything like that, not driving a school bus or such.
Any Straight Dopers (and I use the term advisedly) have experience with this. How long abstinence is required?
Researching the net is useless, all you get back is ten thousand offers to sell bogus “herbal cleansers” which do NOT work. Even NORML wants you to pay a 900 number to get reliable info!! Would appreciate input from experienced sleazoids who have wormed their way into secure employment.
I have to take drug tests about every 1/2 year to a year. Passed every one. I used to love to, er, uh nevermind. Anyway, for the herbage, I hear (and don’t know for fact) that 30-60 days should do it, as far as abstinence is concerned. I’ve quite honestly abstained for almost 10 years now. Nothing lost for me that can’t wait another 10 or 20 years. However, I’m curious, what type of job are we talking about?
Drug tests are getting sensitive enough that you are pretty much screwed if you can’t give up the herb and your job requirements dictate otherwise. Current urine tests can pick up traces out past 90 days easily.
Out of curiousity why play this game? You are probably brighter than the average bear or you wouldn’t pe playing in the SD sandbox. Testing technology is improving at a rapid pace and it’s likely you’re going to get jammed at some point. It would be better to quit now and get a good reference for the future non-tested job than be a pariah
looking for a new job once you get caught.
This is free advice and worth what you paid for it.
Several years ago I tested positive. I had abstained for 7-8 months when my company first began testing, smoked a couple joints one Sunday afternoon, and about 2 months later I got tested. The test came up positive, and so did several subsequent tests during “rehab”. The so-called company doctor said that this was impossible, and that I was continuing to use. Wrong. I was too afraid of losing my job.
My point is that if you imbibe, you have a good chance of being caught. As astro say’s, testing is more sensitive now.
It’s up to you, my friend. Good luck.
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, you have one thing on your side : more accurate generally tends to be more expensive. And companies want to save as much money as possible, so they’ll usually go for the cheap tests. I know a guy that passed a test the day after he smoked, but that was probably a fluke. If you have a fast metabolism and/or exercise a lot, the metabolites of THC will leave your fat faster.
If you really want to keep smoking and keep your job (and don’t mind spending a few bucks), there is a way. Just get somebody else’s urine. Only problem with this is that they test the temperature of the urine. It has to be in the range of 90-100 degrees. A company that regularly advertises in High Times sells a product that you can strap to yourself which holds your urine and keeps it heated. A small plastic tube runs down from the container to your genitals so you can use it even if you’re being watched.
That’s simply not true, most tests if not all have an acceptable threshold to err, weed out real users as opposed to those who might simply be eating poppy seeds or get an occasional contact high. A light-casual user can get away with it easily if they don’t smoke often or get really baked. I’ve pulled that off before, maybe I’m just lucky to have the metabolism that gets rid of it fast but I doubt it.
I’m pretty suspicious of the 90 day claim this poster made, I’ve never heard of any case that exceeded 30 days. As to why this poster thinks failing the test would make your a pariah is beyond me, if you never get the job you don’t put it on your resume. Sounds like the typical, “Obey authority if you know whats good for you” party line. I won’t even touch the “SD’ers are smarter than average people” line.
Its easy to knock herbal formulas but they do force the user to drink lots of water which is probably the only thing they do, and helps to dilute the sample. An overly diluted sample will make it invalid and you’ll have to do it again. Click here for a well written page on the subject. Its not a short read but it has some decent information and a list of USENET groups you should post this same qustion too.
I just took one today actually, as usual its humiliating and doesn’t measure the difference between an addict and a casual user but only tests to see if you’re the type who will do what your local authority tells you especially if that rule is completely unjustified. Its also economically biased as the “gold-coast” types here in Chicago simply stop doing Coke for 2 to 3 days and get a clean bill of health while your average toker needs to abstain for a month if not cheating. Its no coincidence that Coke is the drug of choice for corporate America.
The 90 day claim comes from a conversation I had two weeks ago with the head of human resources for a large local manufacturing company that makes an expensive product requiring extreme precision in manufacturing. He was looking into the most effective and economical methods of drug screening for current and new hires. The claims made to him by testing companies was that they could detect specific drugs in a users system out to 120 days with the latest tests they were implementing. I think he was more worried about crank/meth abuse in this context vs marijuana but I took his statement to mean all drugs identified as illegal.
His problem was, as another poster alluded to, that the newest, most sensitive tests were considerably more expensive than the less sensitive 30 day type tests and he was inclined to go with the less sensitive tests for the general workforce and the more expensive tests for the people running the real high end machinery. If the companies were exaggerating/lying to him or he misunderstood their claims… fine I stand corrected but I doubt they were.
Regarding the “pariah” statement if I am in a job and I fail a drug test that is a matter of fact not opinion and so far as I know can potentially be communicated to a potential employer if they call for references to my old employer. If it’s not a large profession or industry it could potentially be even worse as the news could/would be on the street and into the ears of other prospective employers via gossip. That was the context of the OP’s question with respect to the fact that he was currently employed. Re-read the OP post. I will make the bold assertion that if you fail a drug test in a business that requires them as a matter of course and this status becomes known by hook or by crook to potentional employers your status as a potential hire will be akin to that of a pariah.
As to your characterization of my comment(s) as being akin to the “Obey authority if you know whats good for you party line” puhleeze…retro hippie sloganeering may be good for a horse laugh at the water cooler but the 60’s are over.
If someone wants to smoke herb more power to them but don’t take or keep a job where you know this a requirement (ie drug testing) and then worry about having having to dance through some series of Rube Goldberg expurgatory schemes to keep puffing. If using THC is that important to a person that they will risk being fired wouldn’t it make more sense to find another non-tested job while they are ahead of the curve.
As to your aghastness at my attempt at (what I thought was) a subtle “you ought to know better” compliment to the OP saying SD’ers were somehow more canny than the average bear you are 110% right about that and I hereby take it back! (with gusto even!)
Perhaps your friend wasn’t thinking of urine testing at all when he made these comments. Hair testing will detect drugs for months after use, and is considerably more expensive than urine testing. It is used extensively by casinos in Las Vegas from what I understand.
Interesting points, but I doubt the high-end ultra-sensitive drug test applies to a significant amount of people, let alone to the OP who even said that his “buddy” isn’t in a “safety sensitive” position. Claiming that today’s urine tests are 90-days sensitive isn’t fair if you only mean a very small percentage.
Feel free to interpret this as you please: *And he has a chance at what is otherwise a pretty cool job BUT he has to pee in a test tube and prove that he isn’t what he is. * Pee once or often? Who knows. The way I see it if his method for passing works the first time it should work again, assuming that the THC threshold is going to get stricter for the same position sounds as paranoid as assuming that your potential employer will post your results to alt.blacklist.
You might not like my characterization but suggesting that “buddy” should quit for the sake of convienance and career completely ignores what the OP is asking. Many people do get their cake and eat it too, OP’s “buddy” shouldn’t be any different. As to deciding to go to work in a non-testing evironment, thats smart advice but doesn’t seem to be the desire here. Not to mention that drug-testing seems to be more popular than ever.
Yeah the 60’s are over, but if that saying is your cute way of making your final decisions on privacy and protest issues then the horselaughs are squarely aimed at you.
I don’t use drugs, but I have friends who do. If I’m in a room where they’re smoking weed, I’d assume that I’d test positive. Can the test differentiate whether you’ve just been exposed to an herb-smoke-filled environment, instead of actually partaking? For how long?
I give these tests for a living so I’ll tell you the best method to pass the test. (Note-Nothing is 100% except not smoking.)
quit smoking for 30 days
drink about a gallon of water every day for 30 days to clean out your system.
eat a high fat meal the night before the test. THC is stored in you fat cells, so if your are “burning” fat the night before the test you could test positive.
Drink LOTS of water the night before and day of the test.
NEVER give your first morning urine to the tester. It is the most consitrated and therefore the most likely to be positive.
*The number one thing you can do to increase you chances of passing is to dilute the concentration of THC in your urine by giving a very “watery” sample. Don’t sweat a lot, forget to drink water, and the give a dark yellow urine to the tester. Give a clear almost water looking sample.
michael
In answer to curiosity: its a one-shot, “pre-employment” kind of thing, no suggestion of ongoing random testing. wouldn’t consider that.
Kind of job? Database geek.
Please, gentlepersons, I am emphatically not interested in starting a debate as to the validity of this kind of crapola. I’ve worked with pot heads and I’ve worked with drunks and there ain’t any question about which I would prefer. Just looking for reliable, pesonal experience.
Hair testing. Yup, my wife is a forensic chemist, and has worked on methods of testing for drugs in hair. Her work was on rohypnol (roofies) but I wouldn’t be surprised if THC and THC metabolites are readily detectable in hair. And since THC remains in fat cells and is released slowly, it is probably detectable for QUITE a while afterwards. Suffice it to say that sometime in the next decade I wouldn’t be amazed if they could use hair detection methods to be able to tell if you’ve toked up in the past year.
For the record, I think that a company has no right to deny employment for what you do when you are NOT working, and I am very scared at the police state that is slowly developing among both the public and corporate sectors.
I recently had a job interview where “the test” was actually a strip of paper placed on the tongue, it had color strips on it that appeared if certain substances where detected in your saliva. I tried quizzing the guy as to how well it worked, acuracy, etc. but he was pretty clueless. Has anyone else heard of this type of drug screening?
The company I contract with tried to institute a drug-testing policy a while back. Then they realized that they’d lose about two-thirds of their high-end professional (read: expensive and irreplacable) staff. They then discovered that drug testing is a huge violation of privacy, and doesn’t actually improve the quality of work that gets done there, so they stopped.
So now I work with guys who take a hit or three after work or on the weekends. Who cares? They come to work on time every day, and far outpace my puny powers of cognition, an generally make the company a lot of money.