Drug test worries

I smoked pot for the first time in months last Friday. I only took two hits, but it was pretty strong stuff. On Wednesday got offered a new job, and went for a drug test. I drank a lot of water (as instructed on the Norml.org website), and my urine was pretty clear by the time I took the test. Anyone work at a lab or have a really good idea on how this stuff works? How worried should I be?

Dude, as long your urine is clear from drinking water, they won’t be able to find anything in it. I’ve passed more than my share of tests that way. Don’t mess around with Goldenseal, vinegar, that icky tea, pickle juice, niacin or any of the myriad of things people claim will work. Drink a lot of water before hand and make sure to drain the lizard a few times while you’re at it.

b vitamins will help make it yellow, for future reference.

they did call my dad back in to resubmit a sample cause it was too watered down. but that was long enough for him to pass.

Forgive me if this seems like a hi jack.

On Monday night, I watched a doumentary on the last 25 years of “drug wars” in the United States - and it especially highlighted the scourge of the problem since the advent of “crack” in the early 80’s.

After a litany of examples which demonstrated how “interdiction” captured (at best) about only 15% of the incoming shipments of illicit drugs into the USA, one of the old hands in the DEA pointed out the following reality…

“We can either keep trying to fight the battle of interdiction - which quite frankly - hasn’t made a bee’s swat of difference - or we can attack the other end of the scale - namely, we have to reduce the demand… [sic] and the only way to do that is to offer an incentive for weekend users to NOT be weekend users anymore. We need to offer the public regular free blood tests along with a tax break if they can demonstrate for an entire 12 month period that they’ve been clean. We should stop prosecuting users if they sllip up, and offer incentives to people to stay clean…”

It’s an interesting theory to say the least.

Hello, former drug rehabilitation industry worker here…

THC - the component of marijuana those urine tests are looking for - lives in the body for up to three weeks. This varies somewhat from person to person. Specificially, it hides out in the body fat, so the less fat you have, the quicker it’s shed (meaning men are, all other things being equal, at a slight advantage over women for getting rid of it). Flushing your system with water isn’t going to work for THC because it’s not water soluable. If someone has passed a drug test after smoking pot and consuming gallons of water it’s because they weren’t testing for pot, not because you “flushed” it out of your system.

Now that I’ve scared the dickens out of you - the real question is how much THC did you suck into your body. If it was a low level then the concentration might not be enough to show up on the drug test… but you did say it was pretty strong…

The drug tests used vary enormously, from not very sensitive to tests that can not only identify a drug, but can even determine which brand of acetaminophen you used. Fotunately for you, the latter is too expensive for rountine job screening.

Back when I was in the business we had so many people giving bright, neon yellow donations that came up as “too dilute” we found a place that would also test for goldenseal. If it came up postive for that, we paid for a more expensive, more sensitive test which usually caught the illegal stuff even when highly diluted. After all, it’s not the quantity of opiate metabolites that’s the issue, it’s the fact they’re there at all.

Water soluable drugs are generally flushed naturally in 2-3 days (like alcohol and opiates). Fat soluable drugs hang around for couple weeks.

If you know you’re going to be drug-tested the only sure way to pass it to stay off pot for at least 3 weeks, eat nothing with poppy seeds, drink no alcohol for at least 2, preferably 3 days, and keep away from Nyquil or anything with dextromethorathan (which I probably misspelled). If you’re on any sort of antibiotic report it BEFORE the urine test, as some will generate false positives. In other words - don’t do drugs of any kind.

Do some folks get away with doing drugs because they test '“clean”? Yes. The tests aren’t perfect and mistakes are sometimes made. But it doesn’t happen as often as people think.

You sure about all your info, Broomstick? From what I’ve read, drug tests do NOT test for THC. I think it leaves your body very quickly (within 24 hours) but that marijuana leaves other elements in your muscle tissue. That’s why I’m thinking (hoping) that the THC level is irrelevant. Also, I’ve read that the goldenseal stuff is worthless, but that drinking lots of water will dilute the concentration of anything in your urine. That’s why some drug test places will send it back saying you need to do it again because it’s too watery.

THC can stay in your body for quite some time.

From here.

Broomstick is correct. I hold certification as a Medical Review Officer; a physician who interprets and validates urine drug screens. THC is one of the most common things tested for. And with many current testing methods, you cannot possibly dilute your urine enough by forced hydration to cover certain blood levels of certain drugs, including THC.

Stick with The Straight Dope, not user lore.

QtM, MD

Qadgop - have you had any trouble with false positives?

A very subdued, yet very cool band name.

At my job they will not re-test positives. If you don’t re-test, you can’t have false positives.
Peace,
mangeorge

Very rarely. A positive result on the initial screen triggers much more in-depth analysis with varieties of gas chromatography or mass spectroscopy. It’s VERY rare for a legitimate false positive to get past that level of sophistication.

about how much does it cost for a lab to run the initial test, the gas chromatography, etc. if each is needed to reach a result?
and…has anyone ever had to be hair tested for a job?

Thanks for the info, Qadgop. What’s your experience with the testing for someone in my situation. Are they likely to be sensitive enough to pick up one use after 5 days? If THC stays in your muscles for up to three weeks, I’m assuming that’s for requent users. I read somewhere that it can stay in your system for up to 10 days in infrequent users, but that was from the same site (norml.org) that said you don’t test for THC, so I’m not gonna take them on their word for that either…

My company doesn’t use the sophisticated tests. If you test positive for the initial test, they accept that and offer you rehab.

Don’t some companies test your hair (from your head or arm) which can carry traces of drugs for months? Or is that one of the expensive tests?

They test for metabolites of THC, don’t they? I’m not clear on exactly what the difference is. And they can detect, with the initial screen, many weeks after use with a heavy user.
What a waste of time.

Hard to say. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. I would not be surprised by either a positive or a negative result in your case.

Yeah, well. If you’re a business owner, do you want the legal liability of employing a chronic THC consumer to assemble your cardiac pacemakers, or tech equipment for commercial airlines, or your critical care nursing staff?

Sure, Doc, I’d like to be able to test for impairment. Without regard for the cause of that impairment.
I think the important thing is that the OP understand that if he does get the job, he can be busted if he uses any pot at all.