DRUG SCREENING TESTS MAKERS IMPROVE PRODUCT TAMPER-RESISTANCE
See
Three Reports On "Drug" Testing Range From Fantasy To Reality.

Drug tests have become almost as common in the job application process as listing a previous employer.

And just as some applicants fudge their job history and overstate their academic credentials, many are trying to thwart drug screening tests.

Workplace industry groups estimate that nearly 87 percent of all employers use drug testing as a pre-employment screening method, a percentage that has grown exponentially in the last few years.

SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories, for example, performed 300,000 tests in 1987; this year, it will do 5.5 million.

The company is "trying to keep ahead of the curve" said spokesman Thomas Johnson.

Fortunately, for Johnson and his company, many of the drug-foiling products are little more than diuretics designed to flush the system.

"The solution to pollution is dilution," is the motto of the anti-testing trade, Johnson said. That strategy makes detection easier—diluted urine is easy to spot. Another method is to put something into the urine that will mask the presence of the drug or invalidate the test.

He said some employers have taken the stance that a tampered-with test result should meet with the same consequences as a positive test result.

Hartman sells drug testing products at his store, Cannibas Connection, in Lakewood and said he knows of only three failures among the thousands of people who have used the product.

"People who are on drugs will do anything to beat the system," conceded Amy Cunningham, an account representative with Zenza Mobile Medical Service, a mobile drug testing service based in Twinsburg.

As people begin to tamper with specimens, Zenza has become more vigilant. It added a blueing agent to toilets so that during a test, employees can’t dip the specimen cup in the water and dilute their urine. They also turn off the water.

People are required to wash their hands before being tested so that any substances on their hands or under their nails can’t be added to their urine collection.

The specimen cup even comes with a temperature strip that determines the urine is between 90 and 100 degrees. Over or under and the specimen is automatically rejected, Cunningham said.

The next step is to test the concentration of the urine. Diluted urine is flagged as possibly tampered with or the result of a person flushing his or her system.

The company also tests for nitrates, which are common in products popular with the drug test-thwarting set.

The products are expensive and often not worth the money, said John Boja, assistant professor of pharmacology at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. He recently examined a popular product in the Akron area.

"Thirty-five dollars for water, sugar, flavorings, creatinine and vitamins," Boja scoffed. "With that much money, they could have made enough solution for several hundred bottles ... The profit margins are enormous."

By drinking a lot of water for a few days, depending on the type of drugs and the quantity used, a person may be able to flush his system so chemical traces would be below levels detected in a standard drug screening test, Boja said. The other methods of tampering—adding eye drops, drain cleaners, bleach or chemicals to the urine sample—are usually foiled, he said.

People do desperate, silly and sometimes dangerous things to pass drug tests, Boja said, when there’s one easy way to pass—stop using drugs.

One company that makes drug-test passing products agrees with him.

Detoxit Inc. in Dallas caters to the former drug user who doesn’t want past use to show up in his system, not active imbibers, said Devon Allen, a medical technologist with the company.

Some drugs can linger in your system for 30 days, and Allen said, that’s a long time for a person who has quit using and wants to find a job.

(Marijuananews note: Not "some drugs" – just marijuana.)
See
Why "Drug" Testing Is Really Just Marijuana Testing

Allen’s products aren’t designed to mask or cover up the drug use, he said.

"Anyone who says they can get (drugs) out in three hours, or overnight, is lying and cheating people," Allen said.

But most of the sites and products on the Internet are touting the quick-fix method.

Most of these sites have clever names like Tommy Chong’s (of the Cheech and Chong comedy team) "Urineluck." There’s also "Testclean" and "Notatrace."

Other product ads find their way into alternative magazines, such as High Times.

Richard, an executive at a drug testing aid company in Georgia who asked that only his first name be used, is so confident of his products that he offers a double-your-money-back guarantee on the urine sample additives, herbal capsules and cleansing drinks.

He agreed, however, there are limits.

"There’s nothing by any company that will help with blood," Richard said.

But an antidote for that, too, may just be a matter of time.

"We spend a lot of time and money on research and development," Richard said.