Drug Testing
Drug abuse and addiction lead to many health problems, social stigmas, physical habituation as well as tumultuous psychological dependency. Some drugs adversely affect the central nervous system, which leads to sudden mood swings, lowered levels of awareness and sensations. The number of people diagnosed with severe drug abuse has risen during the past decade. It has become particularly significant to do a drug test to keep a check on drug abuse. Drug tests are now conducted more often in sports as well as schools and colleges.
Multi-Drug Home Testing Kit
- Detects Cocaine, Marijuana, Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, Opiates
- Results in 5 minutes, 99% accurate
- Used by labs around the world
Drug Test Methods
There are several kinds of drug test to find out if anyone is addicted to drugs or not. Most popular methods include urine, saliva, hair or blood test. Urine test is the most often conducted drug test. A urine test shows whether a person has taken any drugs between the past one to four days. Saliva and urine test are mostly performed to test whether someone is currently under the influence of drugs. Blood tests are conducted to detect recent drug use. As this is a more expensive drug testing process it is not very popular.
Many times blood, urine or saliva tests do not detect drugs if they were taken prior to about a week ago since traces of most drug substances disappear very rapidly from blood, urine or saliva. In such cases a drug test done by taking a sample of the hair is conducted. Hair test may detect history of drug usage for between one week and about three months. Of all drug tests, hair drug tests are the least reliable due to the technical difficulties in testing hair.
Sweat drug tests can also be conducted to detect drug abuse. A patch is attached to skin for ten days to week to collect sweat. The drug testing agency comes to know if the patch is removed and re-applied during the testing period. This patch is then tested to determine drug use during the period the patch was applied on the skin.
Home Drug Testing
The anxiety of taking someone for a drug test can be avoided with a home testing kit. However, do take note that many home drug testing kits are not very reliable. They may test positive for certain medical pills or cough syrups.
Physicians and doctors advise against home drug testing. If you do use a home drug testing kit, and the test results are positive, bear in mind that it could be a false positive. Further professional drug testing is strongly advised.
As a parent - when should a Drug Test for your child be considered? The key factor in detecting possible drug use is significant change. This could be a change in personality, attitude, behavior or physical appearance.
When to Consider a Drug Test
Some signs to watch out for:
- A change in habits
- A change of interest in activities
- A sudden drop in school performance and grades
- An inability to pay attention
- Bad coordination
- Consistent need for money
- Constant runny nose
- Dishonesty and lies
- Forgetfulness
- Irritable
- Loss of appetite or an increase in appetite
- Low energy levels
- Low motivation
- Nervousness
- New, often mysterious, friends
- Occasional vomiting
- Persistent attitude changes
- Red or watery eyes
- Shaking and tremors
- Strange smell (caused by drugs used)
- Suspicious behavior
- Sweaty palms
- Unexplainable personality changes
- Unexplained weight loss or weigh gain
Drug testing should be considered when someone consistently shows such behavior. Long term drug abuse can lead to life threatening impairments and death in cases of overdose. A drug test can help detect addiction and offer timely cure before it is too late.
