Parent Solutions Manual

Drug testing:
An easy reference and guidebook

A PERSONAL STORY
A friend of mine has been clean and sober for
almost 5 years. Old photos of him display a
clear timeline of self-destruction. He transforms
from a delinquent and smiling teenager to later
stages of young adulthood where grinning has
been replaced by stern or vacant eyes that
communicate self-hatred. There is also one
picture of him hooked up to medical
equipment, lying in a hospital bed in a coma.
When I was writing this edition of the Parent
Solutions Manual on drug testing, I asked my
now sober and successful friend what his
experience, if any, had been with drug testing.
He related to me verbally the following story:

I was living at home with my parents
after leaving college due to my addiction.
Looking back on this period of time, I believe
it must have been one of the most challenging
periods of time for my family. I was so manipulative, defensive, secretive, and exploitative.
If I wasnt stealing directly from my parents,
I was sneaking around, creating elaborate
stories and excuses for my behavior. I honestly
remember thinking that I had found something
really great when I had basically free access
to as much OxyContin as I could ever want,
and that no one was going to spoil this for me.
Meanwhile, my vigilant mothers radar was
constantly going off all over the place and
she became like the detective and I became
the pursued criminal.

There was an enormous white elephant in the

room. I knew that everyone knew that I had
a problem. But we engaged in this constant
game of they trying to find evidence, me
using deflection and dishonesty at every turn,
and nobody really able to call it like it was,
:that there was a sick and deceptive addicted
young man living in the house regardless of
what he was saying or what technical evidence
could be found. Finally I was caught..my
bad karma caught up with me. I had to face up
to my father. Some kind of solution had to be
struck. I negotiated to be regularly drug tested.
This is exactly the type of negotiated deal that
I wanted. I knew that beating drug tests would
be a cinch, and it was. There were all types of
products that I could purchase that allowed
me to pass each weekly test. The last time I
ever took a test I had let my guard down and I
hadnt made it to the store to get the adulterant
in time. So, instead I consumed a great amount
of water. The test results came back to my
father that the sample given them was not
at all urine. It was all water.
My father had found out that I had been
tampering with the testing and he had begun
to become frustrated with this approach of
trying to monitor my behavior. I really sensed
that he saw some of the insanity of this
continuous game of cat and mouse. This
was an almost judicial game. Success in
legal proceedings has so much to do with

the ability of hired legal counsel and the art of

lawyering the case. Similarly, in this situation
taking place in our home, the palpable truth of
the situation was so clear yet dismissed in the
face of this almost lawyering. That is..
until then. After that time, my father began to
take a more detached position, I believe. When
I asked him to take another test the following
week he dismissed the idea abruptly as though
it reminded him of some folly of youth to which
he had been subscribing to at the time. He
began to talk of not being able to do this for
me and perhaps having to let go and maybe
even ask me to leave the house and find my
way on my own. This was the beginning of
real changes in all of our lives.
Please interpret and apply this story to your
own life. We will not, however, draw conclusions for you. You must find the answers on
your own. If you are considering a way to drug
test your loved one, our hope is that this story
may in some way lead you to go a little deeper
with your thought processes. The point of the
story is not to dissuade you from the action of
drug testing but rather to have you consider
things again, that maybe you will find the best
way forward for you and your family.

PARENT SOLUTIONS MANUAL

Parent Solutions Manual: Drug Testing is meant to be a quick and easy reference guide for parents who may be
concerned about their loved one(s) and looking for information on specific drug tests, how/why/when to do drug
testing, if drug testing is even appropriate, accuracy and tampering issues with testing, and to quickly find out the
window of time different tests may detect different drugs. Parents may at times find themselves in the following
situations below that may have led to the purchase of this eBook:
You are concerned that your son or daughter may be
using drugs based upon their unusual behavior and
want to know how long to drug test them.
You have administered a drug test and are
concerned that your son/daughter/loved one has
cheated on it in some way.
Your place of work is requiring a drug test from your
loved one.
Your loved one is involved in outpatient treatment
that requires regular drug screening.
You know someone who may want to be employed
at a company that requires a pre-employment
drug screening.
You are concerned about yourself and that your use
of drugs may be getting out of control.
Your son or daughter is involved in a legal situation
that has or will involve a drug test.
You are conducting research on the topics of illegal
drug usage, toxicology, or drug testing in general.
There are probably many more reasons than those
listed above for why you have decided to purchase
this book. Ultimately, the following pages provide the
quickest and easiest source of basic information on
drug testing for drugs of abuse. Inside you will find
information on all types of drug tests, metabolism
of the different drugs in the bodys system, and also
some of the ways people can and do sometimes cheat
drug tests.

Many will find this book very helpful and convenient

as a quick reference guide for questions related to
drug testing for drugs of abuse. We will also be giving
simple suggestions to families who may be considering drug testing a loved one who they are
concerned about.
How can you begin to find out if your loved one
has a problem?
What should you do if you find out your
loved one is indeed using drugs? Its not enough to
just know.
What are some practical steps that can be taken
to best help position your loved one to achieve
success if and when you do find out that he or
she has a problem?
How do I act in accordance with the results can have
a significant effect on your loved ones chances for a
full and healthy life.
What support programs are available for a person
who has just found out that their loved one is on drugs?
These questions will be addressed simply in the
commentary sections of this book that complement
the easy to use factual information presented on
drug testing.
One last thing: This book is meant to provide
suggestions only and should not substitute for
the advice of a qualified professional.

DRUG TESTING YOUR

RECOVERING LOVED ONE
Regular drug testing works best therapeutically as an
accountability-enhancer. That is, if a person is trying
to become and stay clean and sober, it may help them
to set up an accountability system wherein they are
regularly drug tested and the results of the testing are
shared with others who are playing a supportive role in
their recovery. It will be of great benefit for those who
are close to the newly recovering person to be kept in
the loop, and it could be normatively gratifying for the
recovering person to personally view and share the
positive results of testing with their close supporters.
To be sure, most people would consider themselves very
lucky to find themselves in the position described above
wherein their loved is willingly complying with a treatment
plan that includes drug testing. If you find yourself at this
point, congratulate yourself, for you have surely done a
lot of good work in first identifying that there is a problem
and then working cooperatively as a family toward a
common goal.
Most people will find themselves in the following
three positions:
We are not sure that our loved one has been or is
currently using drugs.
We think our loved one may be experimenting or using
certain drugs but we are not sure if they have crossed
the threshold into hard drugs or have a problem with
the drugs we know they are using.
Our loved one certainly has been using drugs and
we strongly believe they are actively engaged in lies
or deception to cover up their problem.

It is not the purpose of this book to comprehensively

address whether or not your loved one has a problem. But
we will briefly mention several ways to determine this. This
question should be explored further with professional help.
Does he or she have a problem?
In rare cases there is a direct admission from the
person that they have a problem, perhaps after being
confronted. It may also arise spontaneously. These are
short windows of opportunity that should be exploited
immediately to get someone away from their current
situation and into treatment that can save their life.
These short windows of opportunity are gifts and
sometimes labeled moments of clarity. Wouldnt it
be nice to already have a plan in place for when this
happens? The shorter the amount of time it takes
you to react as a parent or loved one of the struggling
person with a plan of help, the greater the chances
of successfully getting the person the help they need.
This is why it is helpful to investigate options. We
prepare for the worst, hope for the best, and in so
doing have a positive yet realistic preparedness for
what life may present.
You may also seek advice from a professional such
as an addiction trained therapist, physician, counselor,
interventionist, or consultant who can help you determine,
based on the information that you provide them, if your
loved one may have a problem. Many professionals will
maintain ongoing relationships with you and your family.
You could also setup an appointment or evaluation with
a professional for your son or daughter to help determine
if there is in fact a problem.

The one problem with this plan of action is that many

addicts and alcoholics are resistant to treatment. First,
they are manipulative of others. Their intellect becomes
employed for use by their addiction and so it becomes
a tool of defense to create a smoke screen that
prevents others from seeing the reality of the situation.
In this way addiction seeks to preserve itself. Addicts
also manipulate and lie to themselves in order to avoid
the pain of the truth and this is another way that
addiction preserves itself. Only in a moment of clarity,
described above, can someone see themselves for who
they REALLY are and reach a point of vulnerability that
will lead to a request for help.

angry or prone to runaway), you should most definitely

seek a professionals help and advice on how to strategize the best way to obtain information going forward
and assist your loved one in possibly getting some help.
If youre just in the beginning stages of investigation
of these issues you should also begin to create healthy
habits for yourself. There is a collection of fellowships
available in most areas for parents, family members, and
friends of addicts and alcoholics that meet regularly to
discuss and support each other. These groups are very
wise and are highly recommended to anyone who has
been touched directly or indirectly by addiction. These
groups can help you but do require some effort on your
part. You may need to be diligent on attendance until you
build your muscles. Sometimes the ideas presented
in these meetings are different from our own and can
make parents react adversely. There are many different
kinds of groups. Three to start with are:

The second issue with asking someone to take a drug

test or be evaluated is that people with addiction
problems can be prone to fight or flight reactions. If
the situation suddenly seems unfavorable to an addicted
person, he/she may flee indefinitely or become combative.
Addiction holds onto its ground (The mind of the addict)
Alanon
with great tenacity.
http://www.al-anon.alateen.org
www.al-anon.alateen.org
If you are thinking about asking a loved one who may or
may not be aware that you are concerned about them to Naronon
take a drug test to determine what if any drugs they may nar-anon.org
be abusing, you should first carefully assess and prepare
for how to do this in the best way possible for all parties. Families Anonymous
If you are at all hesitant about making decisions in this
familiesanonymous.org
area, you should seek the counsel of a trained professional
to work with directly and lead you through the entire
It is probably wise in most circumstances NOT to
process. There are many trained professionals with
unexpectedly ask your loved one to take a drug test.
years of experience who can help you to think clearly
Lets briefly mention a couple additional inappropriate
and rationally and even assist you and your family in
reasons for drug testing.
person by meeting with you individually or as a group
an/or coming to you directly.
A drug test should not be used to win an argument or
prove a point. It should be a fact-finding mission and
If you are reasonably certain that your loved one may
part of a total plan that may result in an intervention
react adversely to the request to be drug tested (become or in helping a sick person to get some help. Drug

testing should not be conducted without a reasonable

and immediate plan of action that testing is one part of.

test, as we have seen does not even mean that the

person has not been using drugs.

Specific planning instructions will be addressed a little

later in this book. If you have carefully assessed the
potential risks and have decided that you are in fact
going to drug test your loved one and have a plan in
place, you should be adequately prepared emotionally
and mentally to handle the results of what you discover
when you do test your loved one.

Drug tests are imperfect measurement devices and can

produce a false negative or can sometimes not detect
drug use accurately due to threshold minimums, and
human physical characteristics and metabolic processes.
People can also cheat on a drug test, using various
methods to make it appear as though they have not
been using drugs at all.

It will be very tempting to place a huge amount of stock

in the results of a drug test because of the expectations
and belief systems that are at play here. Many people
set themselves up for further problems by treating a
drug test like a lie-detector test or like a judge, jury, and
executioner all at once. Drug tests should not be treated
this way.

In the case of a negative test result, you should continue

to monitor the person of concerns behavior and possibly
setup a schedule for further drug screening. You should
clearly articulate your concerns to them and as much
as you can try to garner understanding between both
parties instead of defensiveness. We suggest that you
use your intuition. If all the signs of a problem are there
minus the sometimes unrelaibale evidence provided by
a drug test, proceed with further support, investigate
treatment options, and possibly consider an intervention

A clean test may mean a sense of great relief to

a person. A dirty test may mean a great sense of
defeat, anger, or sadness. One should keep things
in perspective. Lets go over the two possible results
(positive and negative) a little more below in our next
section, which is devoted entirely to planning.
The Two part Plan: (positive or negative result)
We have mentioned that a drug test should be a part of
a larger plan to gather facts and assist a person further.
Just because the person has tested clean does not
mean your concerns and misgivings about their unusual
behavior recently are not valid and should not still be of
concern to you. Passing a drug test does not magically
elevate someone to a status of healthy living. A clean

If you decided to go ahead and drug test your loved one

and carefully followed our suggestions from before then
you must have calculated some agreeableness from your
loved one with regard to participating in a process that
may help them. Hopefully, this agreeableness persists
even amidst the tension created by a negative test.
If it does not, then you will need to seek professional help,
and if you believe that your loved one may need help then
you may need to investigate doing an intervention. It may
be wise to begin investigating the topic of interventions
now in order to be well prepared if the need arises. This
will not be covered in sufficient detail in this book. If you
are interested, contact a professional. Then, you can
have an immediate on-the spot plan in place in response
to a positive result. As part of your intervention, you
may ask that the person to go to a specific treatment
program that has already been picked out. It is very wise
to have already investigated programs and decided on
a suitable program should the need for treatment arise.
People do cheat on drug tests

So what if the person of concern tests positive for

drugs? And to make this even more interesting: what if
they test positive for hard drugs or drugs that you didnt
even expect that they were using at all? Does this mean
that the person is doomed to a life of failure, criminality,
and premature death? To be sure, addiction is a chronic,
progressive, and potentially fatal illness. But are all
people that fail a drug test stricken with the active
illness of addiction? No, of course they are not. However, if
this person is an addict, then the test result is a gift as it
may lead all parties one step closer to the truth. We have
to first know the truth about ourselves and our situations
before we can get anywhere. Our hope for you is that
a drug test can play a small but important role in your
familys process of truth-discovering.

Just because someone has tested negative for substance

use after taking a drug test, it does not mean that they
havent used any drugs. Since drug test products began
being manufactured, just as many drug test products
have been manufactured to beat drug tests. There are
numerous products available that the test subject can
consume that will alter the subjects urine in such a
way as to mask the presence of drug or drug metabolites
and/or change the quality of the urine specimen rendering a positive test result impossible. Many young adults
know about these products and it is also common for
these products to be sold directly at specialty stores.

Types of Drug Tests

The following section will provide some introductory
information on the 4 major forms of drug testing available
today. These most common forms of drug testing include
screening a subjects urine, blood, hair, or saliva for trace
amounts of common drugs of abuse, drug metabolites
(what the body breaks drugs down into), or the bodys
immunity agents (how the body responds chemically to
drugs) that are produced in response to drugs entering
the bodys system.
Urine Screening
This is the most common form of drug testing. It typically
involves the testing agent requesting the subject
to produce a sample of urine into a plastic cup. There
are many different products that can be used to test in
this way. Some can detect the presence of drugs almost
immediately. This is typically referred to as on-site
testing. Materials for this type of testing are available
to consumers and this type of test can be facilitated
at home.
Reference lab testing is typically facilitated at a
laboratory and the test subject is given a certain amount
of time to report to a lab to produce a specimen. The
results typically take longer to process, at least 24 hours.
Overall, urine testing is considered the tried and truest
from of drug testing.
Blood Screening
Blood screening is typically conducted during acute
emergency situations to gather information about what a
subject may currently have in his or her system. There is
typically a moderately short window of time in which

a drug would be present in the blood stream. However,

if you are testing for drug metabolites or the smaller
broken down parts of drugs, you may be able to detect
drugs for a longer window of time. There are blood tests
that do test for metabolites and so can detect for
a greater window of time. During a blood test, the
subject has his or her blood drawn by a trained medical
professional. It is typically drawn from the subjects arm.

Drug Detection Windows

This next section will investigate the windows of time

in which the most common drugs of abuse can be
detected using the most common types of testing
(Urine, hair, saliva). There are many different factors
that may lead to variation in these numbers. All of the
following data are to be viewed as approximations only.
There is significant variation even within the categories
of testing as there are numerous companies that make
different kinds of tests within each category. Many of
Saliva Screening
these tests are different and so have different sensitivities.
Saliva testing is a newer form of drug testing. It has been Also, every persons body and metabolism are different
and so there can be significant variation in detection
determined to be a reliable form of testing to determine
time on an individual basis. Parents should ask questions
recent drug use and has a similar window of detection
period to urine. Saliva testing is a simple procedure that about a test before purchasing one or paying for services
in order to make sure you are getting a test that will be
involves a toothbrush like swab without bristles that is
able to detect the drugs you may be looking for.
left in the mouth long enough to collect a sample of
saliva. The sample is then tested for the presence of
Cocaine
drugs and/or metabolites. Saliva testing can test for
(powder cocaine, crack cocaine);
some of the more common drugs. It has not been
proven to be all that reliable for testing of marijuana THC.
Usage and Facts:
Cocaine is typically found in powder form and it is
Hair Screening
snorted or ingested intranasally. It can also be smoked
(freebased), injected directly into the bloodstream, or
Drug metabolites stay in the hair long enough for drug
eaten. There is also a derivative of cocaine called
use to be detected for up to 90 days after use. Because
of this ability to test for the presence of drugs for such a crack cocaine that is smoked.
long period of time, this form of drug testing has become
Cocaine is rapidly metabolized by the human body. As
increasingly popular and useful for agencies and legal
such, effective testing for cocaine involves detecting
proceedings where drug detection can be very signifimetabolites that cocaine is broken down into by the body.
cant. A sample of any form of body hair, typically 80-120
strands, is extracted and tested using a laboratory service.
Urine Test:
Cocaine can be detected in the urine for 2 days after
a single use and for 3-4 days after repeated usage.

Hair test:
30 to 90 days is the anticipated amount of time that
cocaine metabolites would be found in the hair.
Saliva Test: 2-4 days

Marijuana
Marijuana is typically smoked or cooked into foods and
ingested. THC, the active drug in marijuana, is fat soluble
which means that heavy usage can result in marijuana
being absorbed into fat cells. This results in much longer
potential detection windows.

Blood Test: During acute intoxication. If a blood test

detects cocaine metabolites it could also detect it for
a couple days.

Urine Test: Single use-2 to 7 days

Frequent and repeated, regular use: up to 36 days

Opiates

Hair test: 30 to 90 days

Opiates have become very popular drugs of abuse,

especially among young people. Street forms such as
heroin are cheap and prevalent but many users begin
use with pharmaceuticals like oxycodone. Opiates can
be ingested orally, intranasally, inhaled or injected. Most
opiates are converted into morphine by the human body
and are detected as such. Methadone, oxycodone,
codeine, and propoxyphene are exceptions to this
rule and are detected exclusively.
Urine Test:

Heroin (as morphine)2 days

Morphine- --------------- 2-3 days

Methadone--------------- 3 days

(can be as long as 7-9 depending on usage)

Codeine------------------- 2 days

Propoxyphene----------- 6 hours- 2 days
Hair test: 30 to 90 days. All of the subcategories above
may not be currently detectable through hair. Be sure
to inquire before purchasing a testing kit.

Blood test: Depending on the regularity and amount

of usage, from 2-7 days after last use
Saliva Test: Several days. However, if you are testing
specifically for marijuana, saliva testing is not the ideal
method if testing as it has proven somewhat unreliable
in testing for THC.

Benzodiazepines (xanax, valium, kolonopin)

Benzodiazepines are more recently developed
anti-anxiety drugs that produce sedation, and a high and
have largely taken the place of barbiturates as the most
popular sedative pill abused today.
Urine Test: Regular therapeutic dose-3 days
Extended or chronic use-14 hours to 7 days
(short acting vs. long acting)
Hair test: 30 to 90 days

Blood test: 1-2 days

Blood test: This is variable depending on use of

long acting vs. short acting benzodiazepines

Saliva Test: 2-4 days

Saliva Test: Unknown

Alcohol
Alcohol is the most pervasively abused drug in the world.
Until recently , the detection time for alcohol was rather
brief as one could only test for alcohol. With the advent
of testing for alcohol metabolites, alcohol can be
detected for several days and for long periods of time
in hair follicles.
Urine Test: 1 to 12 hours, metabolite
ethylglucuronide- 80 hours
Hair test: 30 to 90 days
Blood test: 12 hours, longer if testing for the metbaolite
Saliva Test: up to several days with metabolite testing

Amphetamines/ Methamphetamine:
Methamphetamine is one of the most destructive and
toxic addictive substances.
Urine Test: 2-3 days
Hair test: 30 to 90 days
Blood test: 1-2 days
Saliva Test: 2-4 days

We sincerely hope that this short book has been

helpful to you and your family. Please make your own
decisions about drug testing. However, If we could make
three humble suggestions, the first would be that you at
least discuss your concerns and plans with other people,
ideally those who are trained in addiction treatment and
support.
Secondly, please educate yourself as much as you can
on addiction. If you are in a crisis situation you may not
have adequate time to do this and so you should place
your trust in a reputable professional and follow his or
her suggestions. Then, when you have an opportunity
you should begin to learn and understand addiction.
Finally, please seek support for yourself in family groups
such as those suggested previously. If another persons
addiction is affecting your life in a negative way and
leading you to personal unmanageability, anxiety, or
obsession then this disease has claimed yet another
victim. Seek help to support your own alertness and
peace of mind and then you will be in the best position
to help your sick loved one when and if the need
presents itself.
May your journey be blessed.
Sincerely,
Todd Welch
The Parent Solutions Team

Book sources and references: Dasgupta, A. (2010) Drugs of Abuse Testing. Sudbury, Mass. Jones&Bartlett pub
Jenkins, A. & Goldberger, B. (2002) On-Site Drug Testing. New Jersey. Totowa Press
Coombs, R., West, L. (1991) Drug Testing: Issues and Options. New York. Oxford University Press
Drugs of Abuse Reference Guide, LabCorp Inc, Retrieved online May 22, 2011

Parent Solutions Manual

Drug testing:
An easy reference and guidebook

www.gatehouseacademy.com