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Cocaine Drug Testing
Posted on August 25th, 2010 No commentsCocaine is one of the most popular recreational drugs around, which is why employers target it in random cocaine drug testing. The employee drugs test were once only the preserve of bus and train drivers, emergency services and the armed forces. Now they are performed by employers in almost every industry in an attempt to keep alcohol and drugs from the workplace.
Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant also known as “coke”, “crack”, “snow” and “flake” among other things. It provides users with a feeling of euphoria, stimulation, elevates the mood and acts as a diet suppressant. It can also make the user feel invulnerable, which is where many of the social problems associated with the drug comes in. It is present only a very short time in the bloodstream as it is metabolized very quickly in the body. Cocaine drug tests actually look for a chemical byproduct of this process, the metabolite Benzoylecgonine. There is a secondary metabolite in the drug, called Ecgonine Methyl Esther, but most test kits only look for Benzoylecgonine.
Cocaine is a very potent pain killer and was used as such for many years. It was used extensively in dentistry for numbing the nose, eyes and throat. As the non-medical use rose, its use in medicine became untenable. In fact, the first cocaine cartel wasn’t formed in South America, but in Amsterdam, between Merck, Sandoz and Hoffman-LaRoche in 1910. These drug companies manufactured the drug for medical use for many years.
The drug is the most powerful known stimulant and has been used in raw form for over 5000 years. South American Indians have chewed the cocoa leaf since time immemorial for social, medicinal and mystical uses. Before being refined, it’s almost impossible to overdose on it because even the most prolific coca chewer can only get so much into their bloodstream. Deaths from the drug only began appearing once it started being refined.
Cocaine hydrochloride is the white powder we recognize. It’s a result of crystallization that uses some of the most harmful chemicals known to man, yet produces what is essentially a salt. The more deadly crack cocaine is derived from cocaine hydrochloride which is treated with baking soda and solidified into rocks using a further chemical process. These are much more potent, and addictive, than the white powder.
Cocaine metabolites can be present in blood up to around 5-6 hours post dose, up to 12 hours in urine and 1 day in saliva. This varies with the physiology of the subject and the frequency of their drug use. Crack users can expect to have the metabolites present for a bit longer than “normal” cocaine due to the strength of the compound. A cocaine drug test may pick it up even longer than that, depending on the test and the subject. Tests vary depending on the manufacturer, with some being extremely sensitive and others not. While the sensitive ones make more sense from an employer perspective, they also carry the risk of providing false positives, which can be caused by anything from pain killers to cough medicine.
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Cocaine Drug Tests
Posted on July 29th, 2010 No comments
Many employers in certain industries screen their staff in order to comply with the law, and to ensure they are fit to perform their duties. Even employers not in these industries are choosing to perform drug testing on their staff just because they don’t want drugs or alcohol in the workplace. Cocaine drug tests aren’t usually administered alone, but form part of a test that will detect many metabolites or compounds of a whole range of substances.
Federal government guidelines formulated by SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, require that companies who have workers with commercial drivers licenses have such a drug testing process in place. The tests should be able to detect five drugs, called the “SAMHSA 5.” These drugs are Phencyclidine (PHP), Opiates (Heroin, morphine, etc), Cocaine, Cannabinoids and Amphetamines. Many companies also offer expanded detection tests for substances such as MDMA, Ethanol, Methadone and others.
Cocaine drug tests have mixed results. As the substance is metabolized extremely quickly, the detection times are short. In a saliva test the detection period is just 1 day. In a urine test the metabolite can be detected up to 5 days later. It is actually benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, that is being measured in a cocaine drug test. The hair test is currently the most reliable test, being able to detect cocaine use up to 90 days later. However, it’s also the most intrusive and time-consuming test there is. They are intrusive in the respect that the test cannot be carried out on a single hair, the test needs several of a length of at least 1.5 inches.
Cocaine drug tests, in fact any kind of drugs test, depend entirely on the age, weight, fitness and biology of the subject. If the subject is extremely fit, unusually tolerant to drugs, or has a high urine PH level, the test results will be skewed, prompting further testing. Therefore, any detection time is approximate only and should only be used as a guide. The best way to pass a cocaine drug test is to not do cocaine. As most employee drugs test detect a multitude of drugs, it’s best not to do any of them.
A urine level of 300 micrograms per liter of benzoylecgonine is regarded as a positive result for cocaine. However, these levels can vary depending on when the test is performed. For example, samples taken first thing in the morning will provide the highest concentrations of drug metabolites. Testing urine at other times of the day will yield differing results. The concentration of urine itself changes throughout the day as the body metabolizes. Because of this, a cocaine user can provide a negative sample depending on the time of day the drug is administered. Many habitual users will try to fool a cocaine drug test by drinking lots of water throughout the day to flush their system.
Since cocaine drug tests can be a little inaccurate, the only truly reliable method is to use a hair test, which involves expense, and a significant sample of the subjects hair. The test is regarded as being as accurate as possible, so should be considered to prove cocaine use beyond reasonable doubt.
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Urinalysis
Posted on June 29th, 2010 No commentsUrine is a very important source of testing. Almost every thing can be detected in urine. In fact from the ancient times, urine has been very helpful in detection which is called as uroscopy but in the modern days, after
extensive growth in science and technology, urine has become a very useful specimen for detecting of diseases, crime, an important element in forensic science and also for drug testing. For all medical purposes, urine is considered to be a very important source of detection of any health problem in an individual.There are many urine drug test kits are available for on-site tests and also for laboratory analysis. Urinalysis is the most common test that is mandatory and federally accepted for drug testing programs, but some times it considered to be least effective.
But while using urine-based drug test kits, there are some disadvantages and these are there is a scope for cheat unless specimen collection is directly observed and this is a very complex situation. Especially for crime detection, wrong urinalysis will hold a wrong individual as guilty and the innocent go as guilty and this is very dangerous. Therefore, collection of urine specimen is very important and there should be proper supervision and monitoring for identifying individuals who give them urine samples for drug testing and urinalysis. Lack of proper bathroom facilities, drug abuse on the job, SAMHSA-5 or NIDA-5 are also misused in the current days.
Therefore the entire process of urinalysis is very important at every stage. There are many precautionary measures to preserve the sample in a safe place and also use it for laboratory analysis purpose as per the instructions given under urinalysis.
This being a very sensitive issue, many people will be very scared to take urine test in case of conviction of crime or theft or for any other judicial purpose. When it comes to health issues, urinalysis is a very important test that it can detect any health problem and can identify where exactly the patient is having a disease and what prescription of medicines have to be given. This is for the general cause of ill health or for detection of any disease.
Urinalysis for drug testing is a different test and this is conducted to ensure whether chemicals of drugs or the products of drugs are present in urine. If these prove to be present then the steps will be initiated.
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Drug Abuse Screening Test
Posted on June 29th, 2010 No commentsDrug analysis screening test also called as (DAST) is an important test conducted by drug testing professionals. The questionnaire of DAST will have several questions which will be answered by the participant and each question will receive a particular score which will be analyzed by drug testing professionals and those who proved to be positive here in this test, will go to the next test. This is a psychological test which will analyze the mindset of an individual and the assessment of mind will be made from one question to another.
This is a very efficient method of DAST because all parameters of mindset are considered here and any iota of negativism or positivism will be taken into consideration for further testing and this is very important for drug testing professionals in case of crime detection or in case of drug addiction. In fact this is a kind of drug abuse which is why DAST is being conducted.
In order to get good sleep, one has to follow much other efficient ways of taking warm glass of milk or do some activity that tires your mind such as reading a book or magazine or play a puzzle game which will relax your mind and puts you to sleep. But regular intake of sleeping pill only in order to get sleep is not at all an alternative and this is evident in DAST.
Young people, adults, working men and women or even elders, it may be anybody who are eligible to participate in DAST and this is a very useful information for those who research on drugs and it also tells about drug addicts and those who are suffering from long-term illnesses.
For instance, some people take certain pills at the time when they get a headache or when they do not get adequate sleep. Insomnia leads to intake of sleeping pills and the system becomes immuned with it. While considering DAST the use of sleeping pills if it is mentioned in the questionnaire, it will reveal the psychology of patient as to how he or she feels when there is an intake of sleeping pill for the lack of sleep.
Therefore, instances and situations that have lead to the cause of DAST will be revealed as positive or negative wherever possible in the questionnaire. These results are very useful for the drug testing professionals to arrive at conclusion in case of individuals who are under DAST.
