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Sara’s experience stems from 20+ years working as a B2C and B2B PR and communications professional. If you have questions or concerns about your drug test results, reach out to the medical review officer, or MRO. An MRO evaluates drug test results and may be able to explain your test results. If a drug test is part of pre-employment screening, the employer isn’t required to compensate you for your time. If you believe your hair drug test results are inaccurate, you may immediately request a retest from your employer. If a doctor has prescribed an opioid painkiller and you use them as directed, these drugs will show up on your test.
Why Is Hair Follicle Drug Testing Important?
One issue with the standard urine test, however, is the duration of metabolites that are deposited in the urine. Alcohol in particular has a very short life, and can lose effectiveness for detection in as little as 90 minutes. Other industries that have embraced hair testing include, but are not limited to, the oil and gas industry, the gaming industry, and the auto manufacturing industries.
Contact National Drug Screening To Order Your Hair Follicle Drug Test
A negative result means no drugs or metabolites were found in the sample. The test can detect metabolites of drugs, which are substances made from the breakdown of drugs. Hair follicle testing involves an up to two-step testing process to reduce the risk of false positive results. Hair follicle tests can provide a much larger window of detection than urine tests. Although hair samples undergo a two-step testing process, they are not 100 percent accurate. A person may need to undergo drug testing for employment, legal, or medical purposes.
How Far Back Do Hair Drug Tests Go?
Your hair strand test might take place in a lab or within a hospital setting. Or your workplace may perform the test using a kit that’s then mailed to a laboratory. Typically, THC is detectable for up to 72 hours after use in saliva tests. Drug testing purposes for employers include pre-employment, random selection, post-accident and reasonable suspicion. Testing purposes for individuals can include court ordered, probation, child custody or for any other personal reason.
U.S. Department of Transportation Approves Oral Fluid Testing for Drug Testing - Ogletree Deakins
U.S. Department of Transportation Approves Oral Fluid Testing for Drug Testing.
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Beyond the ethical implications of drug use in a professional setting, there are, of course, legal considerations. Hair testing is currently not allowed for DOT testing or Federal workplace drug testing. For head hair the individual will need a minimum of 1.5 inches of hair; otherwise the hair specimen can be body hair. Once the hair sample has been analyzed by a certified laboratory it will then be reviewed and verified by a Medical Review Officer (licensed Physician) who will then release the results. Generally results for a hair test will be available in approximately 5-7 business days from when the specimen reaches the laboratory for testing.
How far back can the hair follicle test go to detect drug use?
This analysis can confirm the presence of drugs and also identify specific substances. Accredited Drug Testing offers different testing methods depending upon our customer's needs. With a 1 to 5-day detection period urine testing is the most common method used by employers, courts and schools. However, hair drug and alcohol testing are becoming a frequently used testing method due to a detection period of approximately 90 days.
What if I have no head or body hair?
Accredited Drug Testing has drug testing locations in Los Angeles, CA and the surrounding areas. Many of our drug testing centers open early and have evening hours to accommodate a person's work schedule. Our drug testing locations in Los Angeles, CA have certified and trained drug testing specialists ready to serve your testing needs in a friendly, knowledgeable and confidential manner. This test requires a sample of head hair that can be collected safely and painlessly from donors of any age at the Any Lab Test Now store location of your choice. Hair that is visibly damaged by repeated chemical processing may be rejected by the laboratory and cannot be collected for testing. A urine test can sometimes provide the results immediately, whereas the hair test will take some time to be sent out to a lab.

Blood tests
It is also recommended for consumers who are concerned about suspected long-term abuse or misuse of any of the listed drugs by a friend or family member, including teenagers. For urine tests, you'll need to provide a urine specimen collected from your pee into a small cup. Expect to be monitored to ensure you haven't tampered with the test (for example, by bringing a sample from someone else). For a urine test, this is detectable for two to four days; in hair, the drug can be picked up for four to six months.
Hair can be collected from several locations on the head and combined to obtain the required amount of hair. If head hair is not available, certain body hair can be used as an alternative. Once the hair collection is complete, you or the tester will place the hairs into a sterile envelope and mail them to a lab. Although there are no special precautions necessary before a hair follicle drug test, patients should inform their doctor of medications or supplements that have recently been taken. Patients should also inform their doctor of any recent hair treatments, including shampooing, as these may affect test results.
Although more expensive than urine drug testing, it may be more effective, long term, to do the more expensive test than to hire a substance abuser. The hair drug test can detect drugs going back approximately 7 to 90 days; this drug test is also difficult to cheat, adulterate or substitute. If the hair sample tests positive during this screening, a second test is performed. This test, which uses advanced techniques like gas or liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, provides a more detailed analysis.
An inconclusive result may mean the hair sample was contaminated or something went wrong with testing. The person could have used a drug very recently, before it showed up in the hair. They could also have used other drugs for which the test didn't screen. Once the hair sample is collected, it is sent to one of our many certified labs for professional analysis, and review from a certified Medical Review Officer (MRO). When a test is inconclusive, the entire body of data, including known history of drug use or prescription medication use, is reviewed in the context of clinical addiction medication.
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Psychemedics Recognized as a Top 10 Employee Health Testing Services Provider.
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Drug testing can screen for the use of illegal drugs, as well as the misuse of prescription medications, over-the-counter medicines, and legal substances including alcohol and tobacco. Hair samples that produce a positive result for ELISA testing will undergo a second test, such as GC-MS. A positive result with confirmatory testing means that the laboratory confirmed the presence of specific drug metabolites in the person’s hair sample. Hair follicle drug tests involve removing a small hair sample for laboratory testing. Results can show if a person has been using certain drugs or prescription medications in the previous 3 months.
Psychemedics provides detailed instruction through a written training manual and video. Additional help is available through Client Service Managers dedicated to each client and from Psychemedics’ professional trainer. Cocaine, marijuana, opiates (including heroin, codeine, morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone), methamphetamine, Ecstasy (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), and phencyclidine (PCP). By Jaime R. Herndon, MS, MPHHerndon is a freelance health/medical writer with a graduate certificate in science writing from Johns Hopkins University.
Those tests may not be able to detect drug use over a long period, like a hair sample, but they could still reveal drug abuse. Regardless, going out of your way to avoid a hair drug test could raise suspicion and lead to deeper investigations into your activities. You may have used a specific drug, like the ones listed above, in the last 90 days.
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