There are many reasons an individual may be asked or required to take a drug test. Many employers require this of employees both at the time of job offer and randomly throughout the employee’s time working with the company. Employers administer drug tests to keep their workplace as safe and productive as possible. Parole officers may also require their parolees to take drug tests to prove their continued sobriety as part of their parole requirements. It’s also not uncommon for courts to request drug tests during child custody battles to prove that a parental figure can provide a safe and stable environment. There are countless reasons one may be asked to complete a standard drug test. One thing people who administer drug tests must be aware of is drug test adulterants.
Sometimes, when people believe they will not pass a drug test, they consider using drug test adulterants. Drug test adulterants are substances or methods that trick a drug test into producing a false negative. Learn everything you should know about drug test adulterants in this comprehensive guide.
Different adulterants debunked
There are many methods of well-known adulterants. They don’t actually work, yet many people still regularly attempt them. Check out this breakdown of the most commonly used adulterants that don’t actually work.
Over-diluting their urine
An individual can over-dilute their urine sample in one of two ways. Either the individual ingests a large amount of water before the test with the goal of masking drug substances, making the urine more diluted, or they add water to their urine sample at the time of collection. The reason this is not a very effective method is most labs will retest samples that are too diluted, especially if they detect trace amounts of drug substances. Diluting the sample doesn’t remove the drug substance, but rather makes its amount in the urine less. While a diluted sample may not have enough of an illicit substance to produce a positive result, it’s still enough to hesitate calling it a negative either.
Using substitute urine
If an individual knows they have drugs in their system and cannot yield a negative result from a drug test, they may choose to use a urine substitute, either from another person or a synthetic urine. The main issue people run into with these methods is it’s difficult to keep the substitute urine at the proper temperature. Labs will often require a retest from those who fail to produce a urine sample that is between 90- and 98-degrees Fahrenheit.
Trying to delay the test
This method isn’t quite cheating, at all, but rather, prolonging. Many people will try to delay the drug test for various reasons, hoping to wait until the illicit substances are out of their system and no longer detectable by the test. The issue with this is that different drugs can stay in a person’s system for different lengths of time. This time frame is unique to each individual and is based on height and weight, amount of drug use, the regularity of drug use, and other factors.
Common urine drug test adulterants
One of the most common drug test methods is a urine drug test. This is performed by handing out drug testing cups for the subjects to deposit urine into. Technicians then test the urine with a urinalysis strip. This drug panel detects any number of substances in the system. People often try to alter their urine drug test results with the following drug test adulterants.
Adulterants added after the urine sample is deposited
Adulterants can be added to the urine sample after an individual provides a sample. Some of the more common substances added to the urine at the time of the sample are water and eye drops. Both substances can help to dilute the urine. While this doesn’t erase the presence of illicit substances from urine, it does dilute the drug presence. In fact, heavy drug users will see little to no difference in their test results with these methods. This means while the test will not show negative results, the evidence of drug use may not be strong enough to yield a positive result. Instead, the attending technician will most likely require a new sample, which they will often flag for testing for adulterants.
Flushing agents
Another common urine drug test adulterant is flushing agents. These can range from common household food items, such as drinking a lot of water or cranberry juice before a drug test. It’s common that people will drink a lot of water or cranberry juice before a drug test to try to dilute their urine. This is done with the hope that, if drugs do show up in the drug test, they will be in such trace amounts that the technician will request a retest or consider the sample negative. There is also a long list of products people can buy at drug stores to help dilute or mask the presence of drugs in their systems. There is even an entire industry dedicated to the production of such items.
Other adulterants from household substances:
- Baking soda
- Bleach
- Detergent
- Drain cleaner
- Iodine
- Vinegar
- Water
It’s important to keep in mind that most adulterants do not work very well and, even when used correctly, will still yield accurate results. However, there are some ways to test for adulterants in flagged samples.
It’s important to know that most drug test adulterants are ineffective and will not alter the results or integrity of a drug test. Keep in mind that bleach interferes with drug tests and can lead to false negative results. Proper monitoring of onsite drug testing should cut back on instances where bleach is used to alter results. Nitrite interacts with the GC/MS confirmation procure for THC and can cause a positive result to become invalid. In this instance, it’s in your best interest to administer a retest as soon as possible. There are also a few commercial adulterants that can interfere with drug tests. To avoid possible interference, you can conduct further testing of flagged samples. If you properly monitor individuals while they deposit their sample, they will have a much smaller opportunity to alter their samples.
