Test Methods

Test Methods

Five different bodily substances can be tested to reveal illicit drugs:

urine

blood

hair

perspiration

residue

Although this text mainly addresses urinalysis, I try to cover methods for beating all drug tests. It would be helpful if people could somehow nd out which test they are getting ahead of time. Though caution must be taken. Asking your boss whether you're getting an EMIT or GC/MS would imply that you know too much, or seem too curious. The law doesn't protect you from unjust hiring practices, and your boss to be may refuse you employment for any reason. If simply drinking a cup of water makes the boss feel uncomfortable, the verdict may be guilty before you even take the test.

Substances that are Detectable

An assay can be developed for any drug using GC/MS. Table 3.1 zindicates what can be dectected in screening tests.

Table 3.1


Substance	EMIT	RIA	HPLC
Amphetamines	X	X	?
Antidepressants	X		?
Barbituates	X	X	?
Benzodiazpines	X	X	?
Cannabinoids	X	X	?
Carbamzwpine	X		?
Cocaine	X		?
Ethanol	X		?
LSD		X	?
Methadone	X		?
Morphine		X	?
N-Acetylprocainamide	X		?
Opiates	X		?
PCP		X	?
Phenobarbital	X		?
Propoxyphene	X		?
Steroids		X	X
Theophylline	X		?

Table 3.1: Detectability of Substances on Screening Tests

DrugAlert

DrugAlert is a $19.95 home test kit enabling parents to test their children. This is the most inaccurate test being used, and it's also the newest. The test kit is a small brown pad giving oan Oxy pad odor. The [uninformed] parent wipes the child's clothes, books, and anything belonging to the child. Then the pad is sent to Barringer Technologies via mail. (Note that it's a felony to send controlled substances through the mail. If the sample is positive, Barringer Technologies is knowingly urging parents to break the law). The lab puts the pad in a microwave looking machine, which detects residue from seven dierent illicit drugs. The child fails the test if s/he uses drugs, or unknowingly comes in casual contact with a drug user. Simply borrowing a pencil from a classmate that uses drugs will pass enough residue to render a positive test and an angry parent. When we have statistics like - 90% of all paper currency shows traces of cocaine, this test kit is quite foolish. Your only defense is to continually clean everything you touch with disinfectants.

Gas Chromatography

Defined by Thein and Landry: Gas chromatography uses a separation technique to divide the urine extracts into the component parts. An inert gas carries the urine through chromatographic columns, and the samples are separated by their boiling temperature and by their anity for the column. Compounds are identied by separation time, called retention time. The retention time is unique and reproducible for each drug in a given chromotographic column.

Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrom- etry

Defined by Thein and Landry: The most precise procedure for detection of banned substances is a combination of GC and MS. Gas chromatography/mass spec- trometry is a two-step process, where GC separates the sampleinto its constituent parts, while MS provides the exact molecu- lar identication of the compounds. Compounds are separated by GC and are then introduced, one at a time, into a mass spec- trometer. As the sample constituents enter the MS, they are bom- barded by electrons, which cause the compound to break up into molecular fragments. The fragmentation pattern is reproducible and characteristic, and is considered the "molecular-ngerprint" of a specic compound. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry is considered to be the most denitive method for conrming the presence of a drug in the urine and is approximately 100 to 1,000 times more sensitive than TLC. Selective ion monitoring has been used to improve the GC/MS results. This procedure is the most costly, averaging approximately $200 per sample to test. The GC/MS is typically used to conrm "positive" EMIT test results. GC/MS will indicate precisely what chemical is present. This is necessary because the EMIT will only indicate whether something similar to what's being tested was found. The GC/MS is dicult and more costly, which is why the EMIT is given rst. (Hewlett Packard produces the GC/MS equipment, including computer, for about $50-75k depending on options.) Abstinence and substitution are the only ways to defeat the GC/MS test. GC/MS is very precise when done right. However, it's still subject to human error. For example, if the equipment isn't cleaned well, the previous test sample could get mixed with the next sample. According to Dr. Edward Cone, the GC/MS is 99 percent accurate; not very accurate on a large scale when you realize that 10 thousand out of every million will get false results.

Hair testing

When THC metabolites are in the blood, they go through the blood vessels in the head, and get ltered through the hair. THC metabolites remain in the hair as a permanent record. The hair test costs several hundred dollars ($150-300) and is rarely given because urinalysis is cheaper (approximately $65) and more accurate. (The hair test equipment and setup goes for over a million). According to JeNightbyrd, hair tests are "widely used in the casino industry." They cut 50 strands of hair from the scalp, and send it into the testing lab where they liquefy it. "A hair sample is disolved in a series of solvents which extract the drug metabolites and then are analyzed via GC/MS." It can take from several hours to days just to extract metabolites. Average hair grows 1/4 inch per month. Typically they just use hair one and a half inches from the scalp; though some labs will take enough to test for up to 3 years. The liquid is run through the most sensitive GC/MS machines available, and can detect as little as 1 ng/mL! The hair test discriminates in that detection is easier in dark hair. Colored people may be discriminated against further because melanin is in their hair, which can be mistaken for THC. However, there is con icting data as to whether melanin can be de- tected as THC. Psychemedics Corporation has a PDT90 kit for $75. This home test kit is for parents that want to chop oa lock of their child's hair to nd out what drugs s/he is using. Kids- lock your bedroom doors at night if your parents don't trust your judgment on the drug issue. Beating the hair test is extremely hard, and there are false positives. Bleaching or dying your hair is rumored to work, but it doesn't. I imagine you can shave every hair on your body and claim that you're a swimmer. According to NORML, Aloe Rid by Nexus is a shampoo that will aid in testing negative. Aloe Rid is available only in salons. Healthy Hair, from Sampson Health Products, is another shampoo designed to beat the hair test. Healthy Hair is sold in retail stores throughout Las Vegas. Keith Thrash from Sampson Health Products reccommends precleansing with Aloe Rid prior to using Healthy Hair. Healthy Hair is used in the morning and before going to bed. Each session takes 20 minutes. According to Steve at Sampson Health Products, two out of a thousand people failed the hair test when using Healthy Hair. Byrd Labs is currently developing a shampoo to defeat the hair test. Some have suggested treating hair with oil because THC is oil based and oil soluble. However, there is no proven way to beat the hair test, so it's all heresay and guessing at this point. (If anyone has any success with the shampoos or the swimmer excuse, please let me know). Swimming and washing your hair removes toxins, and Keith Thrash recommends doing both as much as possible. Fortunately, the hair test cannot be used alone as evidence because there are no forensic standards. It can only be used when substantiated by other evidence. Also, there are no intoxication standards. I believe if you tested positive for the hair test that you would probably have a good chance of ghting it. (BlockBuster Video uses the most up-to-date equipment, and passing such a test can be diffcult). It takes several months of precleansing to beat the tests given by Psychemedics.

High Performance Liquid Chromatogra- phy

Usually used to detect anabolic steroids. Dened by Thein and Landry: High-performance liquid chromatography is similar to GC, ex- cept a liquid carries the sample through the chromotographic columns and the columns are not placed in a heated compart- ment. High-performance liquid chromatography is both sensitive and specic, and it is simpler and faster than GC. Gas chromatog- raphy and HPLC are reliable methods for screening, and they al- low for simultaneous determination of a wide variety of dierent compounds. High-performance liquid chromatography is used to screen for urinary caeine levels and has been used to conrm the positive results obtained from other screening techniques. Some steroids can be analyzed with this technique, whereas HPLC and GC lack appropriate sensitivity to detect beta-adrenergic block- ers.

ImmunoAssay

This procedure is best described in Thein and Landry's word's: Immunoassays use antigen-antibody interactions to detect illegal substances. Antibodies that bind selectively to certain drugs or drug metabolites are chosen, and the sensitivity and the speci- city of this test are only as good as the antibody chosen. The binding is proportional to the amount of drug in the urine and can be detected through enzymes, radioisotopes, or uorescent compounds. With this technique, very small amounts of drug can be detected in a very small amount of urine, although this test may not dierentiate between specic drugs within a class of drugs. Immunoassay has yielded false-positive results with some decongestants and nonsteroidal anti-in ammatory drugs. Ra- diommunoassay (RIA) and uorescence polarization immunoas- say (FPIA) are speci c IA techniques currently being used. Ra- dioimmunoassay can detect some 17 alpha-methyl, 17 alpha-ethyl,and 19-nortestosterone steroids despite its low specicity. Im- munoassay is both more sensitive and more specic than TLC.

Radio ImmunoAssay (aka AbuScreen)

"Of all the screening methods . . . (EMIT, TLC, RIA), RIA is the best method available." The RIA test is applied the same way as the EMIT. "The only dierence btw RIA and EMIT is that RIA uses radioactive iodine as the detection mechanism rather than an enzyme NAD/NADH rxn which is de- tected by a scintillation counter" [Anon1]. The scintillation counter is used to measure the amount of radioactive particles present. Radioactivity is in- versely proportional to metabolite level. RIA tests are a little more sensitive than the EMIT, and harder to beat. The most known user of the RIA test is the US government; in particular, the US military. The EMIT is more common because RIA produces radioactive waste, and radioactive waste is difficult to deal with. The US government uses RIA because a "company gives the government the instrumentation free in exchange for buying their reagents (reagent rental contract)." Some non-government labs use the RIA, so don't be surprized if your pre-employment screening is a RIA rather than an EMIT.

Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Technique

The EMIT is the cheapest, easiest to perform, and most common; also the easiest to fail. It's the easiest to pass if you're well informed (ie. reading this text). Most pre-employment screens will give you the EMIT rst; though some businesses will surprise you with a GC/MS test up front (discussed later). Unfortunately, there is no standard procedure to expect. (One who has read this le and is well informed may still fail because of the random nature of drug testing labs.) If you don't know which urinalysis will be administered, focus on beating the EMIT. If you pass the EMIT, you're othe hook. If you fail the EMIT, they'll give you the conrmation GC/MS test, which is extremely sensitive. Lewis Maltby, director of the Workplace Rights Office, said the EMIT test is wrong 25 to 30 percent of the time.

Fluorescence Polarization ImmunoAssay

No information yet available on this test.

PharmChek

A band-aid type patch is worn for a week or more to absorb perspiration. If
illicit drugs are used during the time the sweat patch is worn, the patch will
be positive when the lab tests it. The patch has a tamper-proof design - no
thanks to 3M, who manufactures the patches. (Don't sweat it; we'll nd a
way to tamper with the silly patch :) PharmChem Laboratories Inc. created
the patch, and got market approval from the FDA. The FDA permitted the
patch for detecting cocaine, amphetamines, and opiates. They are working
on getting FDA clearance to use the patch to test for marijuana and PCP.
The FDA already gave permission to use it in the workplace. PharmChem
will sell the patch to law enforcement and drug rehabilitation agencies in
1996. Accuracy of the sweat patch remains unknown. No one has disclosed
any information reguarding how inaccurate this test is. Bad lab procedure
is a very big problem in the testing industry, and it's hard to tell how prone
to human error the sweat patch test is.

TestCup

No details available yet. This new test by Roche involves urinating into a
cup, where the cup has an indicator on the side displaying what drugs are
positive.

Thin Layer Chromatography

TLC "involves adding solvent to urine to extract drugs and then comparing
color spots on a TLC plate to that of a standard" (Nightbyrd). Accuracy
is very poor, and this test is rarely used. A TLC kit called ToxiLab is
available. This kit has been abandoned for the most part, since EMIT has
been improved. Fortunately, it's not used for conrmation anymore. Thein
and Landry's defnition:
Thin-layer chromatography testing is based on the dierences in
the migration rate of various substances through a porous sup-
porting medium. The degree of migration and the color are
characteristic of certain drugs. Thin-layer chromatography can
demonstrate the presence of a drug, but this procedure cannotspecify the quantity of drug present. This technique is both time consuming and nonspecifc, and provides only a positive or negative response. Thin-layer chromatography is capable of detecting
only a limited number of substances 12 to 24 hours after ingestion,
resulting in a high number of false-negative results.