GET THE BASICS ON INSTANT
TESTING AND USING THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB AT HAND
BY DUFFY NABORS, EXPRESS DIAGNOSTICS INTERNATIONAL, INC. T
he tool belt; it is an invention that revolution- ized productivity among
carpenters and woodworkers. While so simple, this modern-day miracle allows a tradesman to keep a myriad of tools handy and at his disposal. It also allows for the tradesman to make sure that he has the right tool for the right job. Imagine watching a carpen- ter pound nails with a screwdriver. Productivity and quality would sink to an all-time low. Believe it or not, as drug testing
professionals, we too have a tool belt full of testing methodologies to insure that we get the results that meet our clients’ needs. Tere are three primary testing mediums that provide very different windows of detection and it is important for us to recognize which one is appropriate at which time. In this article we will
Detection period
Blood Hours
Urine 2–5 days
look at hair, urine and saliva and the benefits and shortcomings of each of these methodologies. Tere are a few important disclaimers that I should mention before we get started. It is important to point out that both urine and saliva POCTs are presump- tive tests. It is recommended that any positive result be confirmed by an alternative method. GC/MS or LC/ MS/MS are considered the preferred methods for confirmations. I would also be doing you a disservice if I didn’t acknowledge that blood and sweat tests are perfectly acceptable (and actually preferred in some instances) as testing methodologies that offer their own sets of features and benefits. However, for the pur- poses of this article, we will focus on what are considered the most com- mon testing mediums in the criminal justice and workplace testing arenas.
Hair
Source: Debra Lyon, Winter 2014 DATIA focus, “Drug Testing for the Legal Community”
www.datia.org datia focus 41 Saliva Weeks, Months Hours
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