|
|
 |
|
How long will a drug continue to return
a positive result? (Detection Periods)
|
Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this question.
As a result many myths have emerged claiming that certain drugs such as
marijuana will give
a positive result from a single use, weeks, months or even years after
consuming it.
The exact time to return a negative
test will depend upon a variety of different factors such as the health of
the person, the type of test conducted and the strength and history of
previous consumption of the drug.
This section should help you to
understand detection periods and provide a general guide regarding the
detection periods of various drugs.
|
Detection Periods - Summary :
|
Ever heard that casual use of
"Marijuana will show a positive result for 3 months in a urine test"?, or
even "six weeks" or even "4 weeks". Normally explanations of erroneously
long detection periods such as these are mixed with some scientific facts
(such as THC being highly fat soluble). Yes, marijuana is highly fat
soluble, however it also has quite a fast "half life" so that casual use
of the drug is likely to only present a positive result for 1 to 2 days in
a urine test (however this could be 30 days from regular or chronic use).
The time frame CAN VARY from person to
person simply because all people have different conditions of general
health, different fluid intake, metabolism etc, we have no idea exactly
how strong the marijuana was to start with and we have no idea about the
total amount of the drug that might have been taken (unless this has been
scientifically established).
We have provided a comprehensive
explanation of the issues below including the following information:
However if you are in doubt and facing
a drug test, or if you want to responsibly self-manage consumption so that
you won't show a positive result in a drug test with the added benefit
that you also have much less chance of exposing yourself and others to
risk; you can also
test
yourself in the privacy of your own home.
|
|
|
 A
detection period is the amount of time after consuming a drug that a
particular testing method can still show a positive result.
As you can see in the chart opposite, for some methods this is measured in
hours and in other cases in days or weeks.
Note that the detection period applied for hair testing in this chart is
30 days, (rather than the often cited up to 90 day range) in order that
the relative differences between all of the methods can be easily seen.
However hair testing is very rare in comparison to urine testing,
particularly in Australia.
|
|
|
Detection periods can vary dramatically
between people due to many factors (such as disease state, gender, drug
interactions, genetic inheritance , age of the person or the type of drug
and way in which it is taken), so any reference to detection periods needs
to be taken as a very rough guide only.
Detection period tables should not be relied upon to determine
detoxification time or to determine when a person will provide a negative
result to a drug test. We have provided some additional information under
detection periods which should be helpful for people wanting to understand
this issue more thoroughly.
|
|
|
Drug testing normally involves
establishing the concentration of a drug above a certain level rather than
just finding the presence of the drug. Interestingly, not many people are
aware of this! A “cut-off” is the concentration of a drug at or above
which is deemed positive by a laboratory analysis for that drug. Cut-offs
are set for laboratory standardisation purposes, the detection period and
to exclude defences based upon passive inhalation.
Drug testing Cut-off levels are different in each Country
In Australia and in the United Sates,
expert committees have formulated and published recommended cut-off levels
for a number of drug classes in what are referred to as "Standards". These
cut-off levels are not exactly the same between countries, for example the
opiate cut-off level for urine testing in the United States is 2000ng/ml
whereas the cut-off level in Australia for the same drug is 300ng/ml. This
is a fairly dramatic difference (US is 666% higher than Australia).
Drug testing Cut-off levels can be different between Organisations
Some organisations also adopt different cut-off levels for various drug
classes. This means that anybody purchasing a home test kit should check
the relevant cut-off level that might apply before selecting a particular
test.
Naturally it can be a waste of time and money relying upon a test kit if
it uses a different cut-off level to what is actually applied in a policy.
|
|
|
People often fall into the trap of just
looking at a detection period table and expecting that the time period
stated in the table will apply to them.
The problem with this is that although detection period tables can be
helpful in providing a general guide, they also have major limitations.
The following table presents some of these limitations.
|
LIMITATION |
In other words.... |
Which means... |
|
Everybody is different |
People have different metabolic rates, ages
and general health status (for example fitness and disease). All people
tend to break down drugs at different speeds. |
Even if 2 people consume the same amount of a
drug, they will most likely have different concentrations of the drug in
their system over time. |
|
Different route of Administration |
If a drug is smoked as opposed to injecting
it, this could lead to markedly different detection periods |
For example taking opiates orally will lead to
substantially different concentrations in the blood and subsequently alter
the detection period |
|
Drug consumption is different |
Some people might consume a large amount of a
drug, while others consume less. Also some people might frequently consume
a drug and others only occasionally. |
Frequent use of a drug can increase the amount
of drug/metabolite in the body and take longer to remove |
|
Cut-off levels are not always consistent |
Some Countries and Organisations use different
Standard Cut-off levels. For example the cut-off level for Opiates in the
US is 2000ng/ml compared to 300ng/ml in Australia |
If a lower cutoff level is used, the drug
detection period will be extended and visa versa. |
Having noted this general warning, a
detection table is presented in the following table. As with all
information provided on this site, this information is subject to our
disclaimer policy which can be viewed in full by following the link at the
bottom of this page. This table assumes that the Australian Standard
cut-off levels are used for the applicable substances listed.
|
|
|
SUBSTANCE/ ROUTE OF
ADMINISTRATION
|
Examples of Proprietary or Street Names |
Medical Uses |
Period of Detection |
|
Urine |
Saliva |
|
Stimulants |
|
Amphetamine
(Injected,oral, smoked,sniffed) |
Dexamphetamine Black Beauties, Crosses, Hearts |
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obesity, narcolepsy |
1-3 days |
12 hours |
|
Cocaine
(Injected, smoked, sniffed) |
Coke, Crack, Flake, Rocks, Snow |
Local anaesthetic, vasoconstrictor not available for medical use in
Australia |
0.5-3 days |
2-5 days |
|
Methyl-amphetamine
(Injected, oral, smoked, sniffed) |
Crank, Crystal, Glass, Ice, Speed |
ADHD, obesity, narcolepsy not available for medical use in Australia |
1-3 days |
1-3 days |
|
Hallucinogens and Other Compounds |
|
LSD
(Oral) |
Acid, Microdot |
None |
8 hours |
0-3 hours |
|
Psilocybin
(Oral) |
Magic Mushroom, Purple Passion, Shrooms |
None |
8 hours |
0-8 hours |
|
Amphetamine and Phenethylamine variants
(Oral) |
DOB, DOM, MDA, MDMA, MDEA, 2C-T2, 2C-B, PMA, MBDB, 4MTA Adam,
Ecstasy, Eden, Eve, Nexus, STP, XTC |
None |
1-3 days |
25 hours |
|
Marijuana/Hash (active ingredient Tetrahydro-cannabinol)
(Oral, smoked) |
Grass, Herb, Hash, Hash Oil, Pot, Reefer, Smoke, Weed |
None in Australia |
Casual user 1-2 days
Moderate user up to 10 days
Chronic user
10-28 days |
up to 24 hrs |
|
Opioids and Morphine Derivatives |
|
Codeine
(Injected, oral) |
Aspalgin, Codiphen, Codis, Codral, Dymadon, Panamax, Mersyndol, Panadeine,
Panalgesic, Panamax |
Analgesic, antitussive |
1-2 days |
2-3 days |
|
Heroin
(Injected, smoked, sniffed) |
Diacetylmorphine, Horse, Smack |
None |
1-2 days |
1-2 days |
|
Methadone
(Injected, oral) |
Physeptone, Methadone Syrup |
Analgesic, treatment for opiate dependence |
3 days |
24 hours |
|
Morphine
(Injected, oral, smoked) |
Anamorph,
Kapanol, Morphalgin, MS Contin, Sevredol |
Analgesic |
1-2 days |
1-2 days |
|
Depressants |
|
Alcohol
( oral) |
Beer,
Wine, Spirits |
Antidote for methanol poisoning |
6-10 hours |
12 hours |
|
Barbiturates
(Injected, Oral) |
Phenobarbitone,
Barbs |
Anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, hypnotic,
sedative, Phenobarbitone (anticonvulsant) is the only Barbiturate
available for human medical purposes in Australia (also used by vets) |
2-10 days |
1-2 days |
|
Benzodiazepines
(Injected, Oral) |
Ativan, Halcion, Norminson, Rohypnol,
Valium, Rivotril, Roofies, Serepax, Tranks, Xanax |
Anxiolytics, anticonvulsant, hypnotic,
sedative |
Diazepam (Valium) 3-12 days
Oxazepam (Serepax) 1-3 days
Temazepam (Norminson) 1-3 days
Alprazolam (Xanax) 1-3 days
Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol, Roofies) 1-2 days
Clonazepam (Rivotril) 3-8 days
Nitrazepam (Mogadon) 3-7 days
|
6-48 hours |
|
©Copyright
2009 Fit4Duty Pty Ltd
|
|
|
|
|
