cannabisnews.com: Drug Testing in the Work Place!





Drug Testing in the Work Place!
Posted by FoM on December 24, 1998 at 07:24:57 PT

Drug tests have become almost as common in the job application process as listing a previous employer.And just as some applicants fudge their job history and overstate their academic credentials, many are trying to thwart drug screening tests.
The hundreds of available products and companies that sell them are involved in an elaborate and ever escalating cat and mouse game of drug testing. The drug testing cheaters raise the bar and the companies that test for drugs jump higher, as do the prices for those tests.Workplace industry groups estimate that nearly 87 percent of all employers use drug testing as a pre-employment screening method, a percentage that has grown exponentially in the last few years. SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories, for example, performed 300,000 tests in 1987; this year, it will do 5.5 million.He said some employers have taken the stance that a tampered-with test result should meet with the same consequences as a positive test result.That kind of philosophy makes John Hartman, president of the Northcoast chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, cry `foul.`PAST USE REVEALED Drug testing doesn't indicate on-the-job intoxication, he said, but past use.`Smoke a joint over the weekend and you can fail the test,` Hartman fumed.Hartman sells drug testing products at his store, Cannibas Connection, in Lakewood and said he knows of only three failures among the thousands of people who have used the product.`People who are on drugs will do anything to beat the system,` conceded Amy Cunningham, an account representative with Zenza Mobile Medical Service, a mobile drug testing service based in Twinsburg.As people begin to tamper with specimens, Zenza has become more vigilant. It added a blueing agent to toilets so that during a test, employees can't dip the specimen cup in the water and dilute their urine. They also turn off the water.People are required to wash their hands before being tested so that any substances on their hands or under their nails can't be added to their urine collection.The specimen cup even comes with a temperature strip that determines the urine is between 90 and 100 degrees. Over or under and the specimen is automatically rejected, Cunningham said.The next step is to test the concentration of the urine. Diluted urine is flagged as possibly tampered with or the result of a person flushing his or her system.The company also tests for nitrates, which are common in products popular with the drug test-thwarting set.`Thirty-five dollars for water, sugar, flavorings, creatinine and vitamins,` Boja scoffed. `With that much money, they could have made enough solution for several hundred bottles . . . The profit margins are enormous.`By drinking a lot of water for a few days, depending on the type of drugs and the quantity used, a person may be able to flush his system so chemical traces would be below levels detected in a standard drug screening test, Boja said. The other methods of tampering -- adding eye drops, drain cleaners, bleach or chemicals to the urine sample -- are usually foiled, he said.People do desperate, silly and sometimes dangerous things to pass drug tests, Boja said, when there's one easy way to pass -- stop using drugs.One company that makes drug-test passing products agrees with him.Detoxit Inc. in Dallas caters to the former drug user who doesn't want past use to show up in his system, not active imbibers, said Devon Allen, a medical technologist with the company.Some drugs can linger in your system for 30 days, and Allen said, that's a long time for a person who has quit using and wants to find a job.Allen's products aren't designed to mask or cover up the drug use, he said.`Anyone who says they can get (drugs) out in three hours, or overnight, is lying and cheating people,` Allen said.But most of the sites and products on the Internet are touting the quick-fix method.Most of these sites have clever names like Tommy Chong's (of the Cheech and Chong comedy team) `Urineluck.` There's also `Testclean` and `Notatrace.`Other product ads find their way into alternative magazines, such as High Times.`There's nothing by any company that will help with blood,` Richard said.Most employers don't use blood tests for drug screening. There is also no antidote for the new sweat testing patch, which is worn on the skin and detects drugs through perspiration.But an antidote for that, too, may just be a matter of time.`We spend a lot of time and money on research and development,` Richard said. BEATING THE DRUG TEST1. Method 2. How it's Done 3. Problems with Method 4. How Cheating is Detected 1. Substitution2. Adding water to dried urine. Using another's urine.3. Difficult to conceal. Temperature control problems. Blueing agents and water cutoff at collection site.4. Temperature too high or low. Urine doesn't match persons sex, age, health history or species.1. Detoxification Products2. Drinking potions, teas, or juices that purge system. Using special shampoos for hair testing.3. Won't work with heavy users. Needs prior notice. Expense. Home remedies may be dangerous.4. Chemical balances are wrong. May change urine's color or smell. More stringent or random testing can foil detoxification plans.1. Tampering2. Products added to urine. Coloring or bleaching hair.3. Difficult to conceal. Smell or color of urine could be affected.4. Lab looks for specific tampering products. Other body hair is tested. 
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Comment #20 posted by Brittany Reaves on November 05, 2001 at 12:52:34 PT:
does cranberry juice clean out your system
I would like to know because a friend of mine was smoking cocaine the other day and she's been drinking it every since.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #19 posted by rower12 on October 01, 2001 at 16:26:58 PT:
drug test
does cranberry juice really flush your system?
does vinegar work?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #18 posted by amanda on September 06, 2001 at 06:21:32 PT:
help
how long does it take for cannibas to come out of your system in order to pass a drugs test.please let me know asapthanksamanda x
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #17 posted by Robin on August 26, 2001 at 18:45:24 PT:
THC drug screen
is there anyway to pass a drug screen if not smoked in 48 hrs?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #16 posted by Robin on August 26, 2001 at 18:42:40 PT:
Passing THC drug screens
will I pass a sru screen if I haven't smoked in 48 hrs?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #15 posted by Russ on June 07, 2001 at 19:35:10 PT:
Funny, isn't it?
Kinda strange how all these exec types who are touting drug testing as the end-all/be-all in the workplace are the 20-30something yuppies who just a few short years ago were themselves getting high on a daily basis... the person who was "so cool" in high school is now stabbing you in the back bigtime...I am 47 years old and have smoked marijuana daily since 1968, am subject to random testing (D.O.T) and STILL pass!!! So all you kiddies get a life and realize that the most productive workers have ALWAYS been drunks and stoners!!!hahaha
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #14 posted by carrie on May 04, 2001 at 12:59:03 PT:
fuck the people who say pot smokers are losers
I think smoking weed is natural and it does not harm others around you. Well it does only because everybody thinks that a person who smokes weed is a druggie who is worth less which is not true. I am very smart and I am on probation for smoking weed and be po ruined my education and wont let me live with my mom who is the sun on my rainy days because i cant leave the state that is bullshit that i get caught smokin something out of the ground and now everything seems to be taken away fuck the police
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Comment #13 posted by ike sike on April 27, 2001 at 09:51:48 PT
all about me
i see you baby shakin that ass shakin that ass
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #12 posted by Rena Granger on March 24, 2001 at 00:25:54 PT:
Drug testing in the work place
Excellent! However we need a more comprehensive list of what drugs both pharmaceutical and OTC medication and what they test for. The corporation that I am employed with is on a witch hunt for "abusers". They have no probable cause for most of the people that have been tested. Fortuanely for me I was clean as a whistle but some have come back with impossible findings. People have basically been harassed, embarrassed by management level employees making certain peoples test results public knowledge among other employees. Second tests and appeals were not allowed. Can anyone help?
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Comment #11 posted by pleasehelp on February 23, 2001 at 11:12:33 PT
tests
if someone hasn't used weed in about 5 weeks and only used it every once in a while would it still show up in a urine test? every once in a while means like a bowl every week or two.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by Chris on January 15, 2001 at 18:11:00 PT
Drug Screening (just/unjust)
I agree. I believe it's against our constitutional rights to give us a physical examination to tell us is we're competent to do "the job."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by carlos on October 30, 2000 at 13:39:28 PT
weed
I think weed is alrigt because it make me feel alrigt makes me hungry happy and all i can say.
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #8 posted by jose aragon on October 30, 2000 at 13:32:14 PT
weed
I think that drugtest are not cool cause then all people that dont do drugs are like getting intrauble for not doing drugs.
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #7 posted by jose aragon on October 30, 2000 at 13:25:28 PT
weed
Hello my name is Jose Aragon well it depends what do you take to take weed off you system. it stays 6 weeks i dont do drugs!!!!!! but my vatos' do 
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #6 posted by Big Momma on October 01, 2000 at 16:04:54 PT
Drug testing - I need answers!!
How long does marijuana stay in the system? If someone smokes on Friday and takes a urine test on Thursday, will they pass the test?Also, does XTC show up on a standard urinalysis? If so, how long does that take to clear the system?
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #5 posted by Ben Gimie on September 10, 2000 at 06:18:18 PT:
Weed is cooolll, mannnn
PLease people you are all just a bunch of new melliniumum hippies mann, you should all just chill out mann, peace mann, yeahhhhh mannn, weed is radical mannnnn, we should smoke a two-fiva everyday mannnn, to releave the pressures of conformity mannnn, we should live as equals mannn, and be free to what ever we want to do mannnn, ... so why dont you all do society a favor smoke a fat blunt go for a drive and see how fast you can go with your eyes shut, we dont need weed smokin tossers to walk around like zombies sayin "maannnn this, mannn that". 
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #4 posted by dushie on June 28, 2000 at 14:25:27 PT:
drugtest
i think that drug tests are for the people who use drugs inapropritly
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #3 posted by Mike on February 29, 2000 at 21:09:47 PT
drug tests suck
I think it should be illeagal for companies to drug test with out probable cause
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #2 posted by rounderx on June 14, 1999 at 01:07:15 PT
piss test is poo-poo
It's not about performance, it's about control . Control of the masses to make them behave like robots. It comes from very high places, and I'm not talking about anyone you ever would have a chance at voting for either. 
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #1 posted by herbman on December 24, 1998 at 16:08:30 PT:
Piss Off! And drink my speciman! 
Smart business people should hire the failed testers!Companies testing employees should all use robots!!We should all refuse this mass form of control!Let's just stop working all together and as Santa say's"Grow Grow Grow"
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