The Limits of Drug Testing

If you are an employer who performs drug tests, you’ve likely come to rely on them to identify problematic or troubled employees. Drug tests can also serve as an important tool in the hiring process, as they allow you to pass on candidates with unacceptable habits. Unfortunately, drug testing has its limits. In order for your drug testing to serve an effective purpose, you must schedule it with frequent regularity. Otherwise, drugs will simply evaporate from an employee’s system. In order to judge a test’s effectiveness, it also behooves you to know the limit of a drug test time table.

Drug Test Time Table

If you schedule tests carefully, you can effectively capture evidence of any drug in the system of a user. Certain drugs are easier to detect than others, however, thanks to length of time they remain in a person’s system. For each drug, we’ve identified the upper limit of its presence.

• Alcohol: Five days in urine, 12 hours in blood.
• Amphetamines: Three days in urine, 12 hours in blood
• Barbiturates: Four days in urine, two days in blood
• Benzodiazepines: Six weeks in urine, three days in blood
• Marijuana: 30 days in urine, two weeks in blood
• Cocaine: Four days in urine, two days in blood
• Codeine: One day in urine, 12 hours in blood
• Heroin: Four days in urine, 12 hours in blood
• LSD: Three days in urine, three hours in blood
• MDMA (ecstasy): Four days in urine, two days in blood
• Methamphetamine (crystal meth): Six days in urine, 72 hours in blood
• Methadone: Four days in urine, 36 hours in blood
• Morphine: Three days in urine, eight hours in blood

Based on the preceding information, you can clearly see that urine tests are more effective for the longer-term detection of drug use. To learn more about the benefits of drug testing, or to clarify a drug test time table, call 800-219-4362 today.