Drug Screening
Drug screening is a requirement of employment for many companies and federal government jobs. There are several types of drug screening tests that a person may undergo. Different types of drug tests can detect drug use within the past few hours or the past few months, depending on how the test is performed. For instance, a typical drug screening of a urine sample detects one-time marijuana use within the past day, but may detect regular marijuana use up to 30 days after the most recent use. A blood screen can detect marijuana use for just 2 days; however, a hair screen can detect it for up to three months. Specialty hair drug screening can detect it for even longer.
These days, saliva testing is an increasingly popular choice for drug screening, since it is less invasive than collecting a urine or blood sample, and is very good at detecting current drug use. Generally, it can only detect drug use within the past several hours or few days, depending on the type of drug used.
Most frequently, drug screening is used in one of three situations. For instance, it may be used as a pre-employment test so that a company can make sure that it is not hiring a drug user, especially for activities like driving or operating heavy machinery. There is also sometimes random drug testing, where a random sample of people is selected from a larger group and tested for drug use. This is controversial because it raises privacy issues. Thirdly, there is drug screening that is provoked by a specific event, for instance if a machine operator or truck driver is involved in an accident while on the job. Drug screening can detect most types of drugs depending on the type of test used, including alcohol, opiates, PCP, LSD, and cocaine.
Disclaimer: Cliff Schaffer does not personally endorse or support any of the comments made within the writings of this article. |
