DrugTestStrips Articles

It is obvious that if the drunken driving is reduced a drastic elimination of the many highway fatalities is possible. The great reform can be brought in through the effective alcohol test which can avoid the serious consequences of alcohol like sexual harassment, crime, and injuries in the workplace, educational institutions. It is estimated that nearly 67 percent of the person who are found guilty of alcohol abuse are employers and in United States alone, alcohol abuse accounts for half of the industrial and road accidents. This is the reason for the hike in demands for the effective alcohol testing, screening and detection methods in the workplace all round the world.

There are four classifications under the alcohol test which are urine tests for alcohol, blood alcohol tests, alcohol breathalyzer tests (also called alcohol breath tests), and saliva alcohol tests. The hair drug test does not detect the presence of the urine and hence proves to be futile. The urine alcohol test are considerably less expensive and the procedure being simple can be performed even at home yet they only detect the alcohol intake mostly before few weeks and if the person uses the alcohol regularly and the test is time consuming, it takes nearly 2 hours to confirm the positive result . These tests provide reliable accurate results. The test results at the same time can be manipulated due to adulteration, substitution and dilution and the window of detection is just from 1to 5 days. This test finds its utility not only in the work stations and institution but also in hospitals where when a person about to enter the emergency units these tests are employed to enhance the medical safety and cleanliness and these sort of Information are essential for the correct diagnosis of the medical problems and issues.

The blood alcohol testing is one of the perfect tests to trace a person’s alcohol content. Though these tests provide accurate results, they are far more expensive compared with others and this is why these tests are not common in use. On the other hand the saliva test also detects the BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) in an effective way. The concentration of the alcohol in saliva being equal to the alcohol content in blood, this test is preferred the most. The saliva test is slightly costlier than the urine test yet cheaper than the hair or blood testing. They are easy to be performed but requires the external instrumentation to obtain accurate results and detect the alcohol that is ingested very recently. Because of no standard cut off levels, the results are less reliable.

A breathalyzer is a device for estimating the blood alcohol content (BAC) from a breath sample of a person. This device is recognized to be the approved non-evidentiary screening device in the parliament of Canada. These breathalyzers, misspelled breathazlyzers , proves to be more useful to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety and the first sep towards inventing breath analyzer was made by Anstie in 1984 when he found out that the very small concentration of alcohol were emitted out through the breath. But the first practically used device to detect the alcohol in roadside was called as the drunkometer used by the police which was developed by Professor Harger in 1938. The breath sample of the drivers and the motorists were pumped into a small chamber containing the potassium permanganate with which the alcohol traces react and produce a colour change. The colour change is the direct measure of concentration of the alcohol in the breath. Hence greater the colour change greater is the intensity of alcohol.

The breath analysis played a major role once in 1927 when a police surgeon of England, Dr. Gorsky proved that a suspect was drunk by asking him to inflate a football bladder with his breath as the 2 liters of the man’s breath had 1.5 ml of ethanol. But it is acknowledged world wide that it was Dr. Robert Borkenstein (1912–2002), a captain with the Indiana State Police and later a professor at Indiana University at Bloomington the first to invent a device that estimates the blood alcohol content based on the breath sample. The current concept of breath alcohol test is woven round this concept.

Then evolved a device that works under the principle of chemical oxidation and photometry to calculate the concentration of alcohol in blood in the hands of Borkenstein In 1954 and this was later called as the breathalyzer. There were variations in the test results when examining the individuals consuming the same amount of alcohol and the factor for these changes were gender, weight, and genetic pre-disposition. This is just the primary screening test and they do not depict the exact concentration of` alcohol but indirectly judges the BAC.

The major drawback with the old breathalyzers is their unreliability , these devices not only detect the ethanol but also other substances which are alike in  molecular structure or reactivity found in the alcoholic beverages .Here the breath sample is passed through the potassium dichromate which then turns the colour in the process of transformation of ethanol into acetic acid and this colour change estimates the alcohol content but the solution is a  strong oxidizer and hence oxidizes many OH groups causing false positives.

The 10 panel drug screen indulge in the rapid detection of 9- tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid(THC/ marijuana), cocaine and its metabolite, benzoylecgonine, PCP (Phencyclidine), Morphine and its related  metabolites derived from opium (opiates), Methamphetamines ,Methadone, Amphetamines, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines and Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA) in human urine which are above or below the  optimum concentrations levels established as standard minimum levels  by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and SAMHSA . This 10 panel screen aims at detecting 10 drugs at a time with the help of human urine samples and the standard cut off levels of concentrations.

The cut off levels are expressed in nanograms per milliliter solution. The cut off levels for various drug detection are as follows, D-Amphetamine 1,000 ng/ml , Barbiturates (BAR) Secobarbital, 300 ng/mL, Benzodiazepines (BZO),  Oxazepam 300 ng/mL, Cocaine (COC) Benzoylecgonine300 ng/mL, Methamphetamine (mAMP) D-Methamphetamine1,000 ng/mL, Morphine (MOP 300 or OPI 300) Morphine 300 ng/mL Methadone (MTD).  

This multi-Drug Screen Panel Test is an initial screening test for the presence of drug or drug metabolites at the time the test is performed. As the test requires the visual interpretation and to avoid false results, it is recommended that a person other than the test subject interprets test results. The test results are simple.  The urine of the subject is collected in a clean container preferably a glass container. The screen test kit has 10 absorbent wicks and it is advised not to touch or contaminate the same before use. Each wick is then is dipped in the urine sample for approximately 20-30 seconds or simple penetration and migration up the wicks take place.

The results are to be interpreted within 3 to 8 minutes as the intensity of the colour in the wick would change. For certain other technical reasons also the result is interpreted in 8 minutes. In case of a negative result, Colored lines adjacent to each target drug name and in the control (C) regions will appear. The intensity of colour near the line for the target drug may be thicker or thinner compared to the control line however any line, no matter how faint it is, this should be interpreted as a negative result.

The result development time may vary for each target drug and no result should be analyzed until 6-8 minutes have elapsed. For certain drugs, the test lines would appear within 3 minutes or less producing negative results. A very faint line on the test region would represent that the drug level is close to the cutoff level for the test.

Depending on the actual compound, drug use may lead to health problems, social problems, physical dependence, or psychological addiction. It may make a person to lose his mental stability too and make him dependent on other persons for his day to day activities. Any of these forms are a cure to the person as well as the society.

Traditionally, new pharmacotherapies are quickly adopted in primary care settings; however, drugs for substance abuse treatment have faced many barriers. The drug tests like 10 panel drug test use a number of factors, including resistance by Addiction Medicine specialists and lack of resources.

When an individual persists in use of alcohol or other drugs despite problems related to use of the substance, substance dependence may be diagnosed, individuals can verify their drug level at 10-Drug Test Card (COC/ AMP/ mAMP/ THC/ MTD/ OPI/ PCP/ BAR/ BZO/ TCA) . Compulsive and repetitive use may result in tolerance to the effect of the drug and withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped. This, along with Substance Abuse are considered Substance Use Disorders.  However, other definitions differ; they may entail psychological or physical dependence  and may focus on treatment and prevention in terms of the social consequences of substance uses. Cigarette test is used to identify high levels of tobacco in the liver.

Most governments have designed legislation to criminalise certain types of drug use. These drugs are often called “illegal drugs” but generally what is illegal is their unlicensed production, distribution, and possession. These drugs are also called “controlled substances”. Even for simple possession, legal punishment can be quite severe. Laws vary across countries, and even within them, and have fluctuated widely throughout history.

Attempts by government-sponsored drug control policy to interdict drug supply and eliminate drug abuse have been largely unsuccessful. In spite of the huge efforts by the U.S., drug supply and purity has reached an all time high, with the vast majority of resources spent on interdiction and law enforcement instead of public health. Despite drug legislation large, organized criminal drug cartels operate world-wide. Advocates of decriminalization argue that drug prohibition makes drug dealing a lucrative business, leading to much of the associated criminal activity.

The Home Office estimated that the social and economic cost of drug abuse to the UK economy in terms of crime, absenteeism and sickness is in excess of £20 billion a year.

DopeStats is a new source that estimates the cost of over 300 substances in 3,140 counties of the United States. It reports the total economic cost, average prices, mode prices, and more in real-time. This offers a new way of measuring the amount of money spent on drug use.

Drug tests in the USA can be divided into two general groups, federally and non-federally regulated testing. Federally regulated testing started when Ronald Reagan enacted executive order, suggesting all federal employees to refrain from using illegal substances in specified DOT regulated occupations.

10 panel drug test, 5 panel drug test and almost all kinds of drug screen guidelines and processes, exclusively, are established and regulated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, formerly under the direction of the National Institute on Drug Abuse requires that companies who use professional drivers, specified safety sensitive transportation and/or oil and gas related occupations, and certain federal employers, test them for the presence of certain drugs.

The 10 panel drug screen available here at 10-Drug Test Card (COC/ AMP/ mAMP/ THC/ MTD/ OPI/ PCP/ BAR/ BZO/ TCA) is sold for $9.75 each! And for numbers 100 or more it is available for $8.95 each.

To test five specific drug groups related products at 5-Drug Test Card (COC/AMP/THC/OPI/PCP) could be a safe way to go.

While certain guidelines only allow laboratories to report quantitative results for the  their official NIDA tests, many drug testing laboratories and on-site tests also offer a wider or more appropriate set of drug screen which may be more reflective of present drug use patterns. The confirmation test can tell the difference between chemically similar drugs and what the lab reports to the client depends upon.

Chemicals like Gamma-hydroxy-butyrate GHB were not periodically tested earlier, but due to its extensive utility, some laboratories have added it as an optional test. GHB being rare in pre-employment screening is commonly checked for in suspected cases of drug overdose, date rape, and post-mortem toxicology tests. Ketamine may or may not be tested for; depending upon the preferences of the entity paying for the test, though testing for it is uncommon. In general, the greater the number of drugs targeted, the higher the cost of the test. These drugs are more likely to be included in tests for certain demographic groups such as healthcare workers, drug rehab patients, etc.

The ranges depend on amount and frequency of use, metabolic rate, body mass, age, overall health, and urine pH. For ease of use, the detection times of metabolites have been incorporated into each parent drug. For example, heroin and cocaine can only be detected for a few hours after use, but their metabolites can be detected for several days in urine. At such a situation, we will report the (longer) detection times of the metabolites.

Oral fluid or saliva testing results forms the most part mimic part. The only exceptions are THC and benzodiazepines. Oral fluid will likely detect THC from ingestion up to a maximum period of 18-24 hours. Low saliva: plasma ratio continues to cause difficulty in oral fluid detection of benzodiazepines.