Pre-employment Drug Testing: Urinalysis versus Hair Analysis

Pre-employment drug testing by urine analysis is not the most effective way to examine illegal use of drugs by potential employees. Except for cannabis, urine analytical tests only indicate that the drug used is positive within 2 to 3 days after examination. Hair analysis shows months of drug use and medication history, so it is a more effective way for screening illegal drug use. Carol Patten quoted a report stating that despite the spread of drug use by unemployed people issued by the Drug Abuse and Mental Health Services Department, 70% of people aged 18-49 reported current illegal drugs did.

Urinalysis is the most common form of drug testing and alcohol testing. This can be used as part of pre-employment screening, especially for employees of a particular occupation, randomly or by an employer after an accident. Currently, urinalysis is the only test method approved for federal statutory testing. It is also the form of employment drug test that is least invasive and legally accepted. Urinalysis results show the presence or absence of drug metabolites in human urine. Positive urinalysis does not necessarily prove that people are under the influence of drugs because metabolites are drug residues that remain in the body for some time even after the drug disappears.

From pre-employment and randomized trials, the goal is to identify individuals with potential drug problems. Applicant or employee is instructed to conduct a urine analysis drug test and can simply abandon use or try a fraud strategy. Choosing a Psychemedics hair test, such as pre-employment or random course, has many advantages. Unlike urine, hair samples are not easily exchanged, doped, or diluted when properly executed. The way to disable the urinalysis is widely known and it is easy to purchase drug free urine and dopant. Most drug users know that the easiest way to defeat urinalysis is to detox for three days.

Urine is the most common type of sample used by the employer for drug testing. Urinalysis shows that the medicine exists in the system after disappearance of medicinal effect, but the length of time varies depending on the medicine. According to The Balance report, a typical urinary drug test for employment purposes can screen opiates such as amphetamine or methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, oxycodone or heroin, nicotine and alcohol. If employers and other testers are interested in learning about recent drug use, it may use a saliva (oral) test, also known as a buccal swab test, but for investigation of long-term use It is not suitable. Most saliva drug tests can detect most use cases within hours to 3 days. Saliva is a simple laboratory test for collecting samples that can not be easily forged and can be tested for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine and methamphetamine.