What Is Drug Testing and Why Is It Done?
Drug testing or screening is done to detect one or more prescription or illegal drugs in your saliva, urine, blood, hair, or sweat. The sole purpose is to look for drug abuse or misuse.
Employers from different industries or organizations rely on pre-employment and periodic drug testing or screening, especially alcohol screening to ensure workplace safety, maintain productivity, and comply with legal rules and regulations. Some common industries that frequently require drug testing are:
- Sports organizations to maintain the integrity of sport.
- Transportation firms or industries like aviation, railway, or shipping
- Construction industries to reduce the risk of accidents or injuries
- Manufacturing industries that deal with heavy machinery
- Hospitals, clinics, or other healthcare facilities
Some Common Drugs Tested In A Body
You can contact an urgent care clinic for drug testing to check for a single drug or a group of drugs in your body. Some of the common drugs include:
- Amphetamines (methamphetamines)
- Alcohol
- Benzodiapenes (alprazolam, clonazepam)
- Barbiturates (phenobarbital)
- Cocaine & Marijuana
- Opioids (heroin, codeine, oxycodone, morphine)
- Steroids
What Does A Drug Test Detect?
A drug test is mostly done using urine samples which is more reliable as it can detect the presence of the drug within several hours. However, it depends on how long the drug is present in your body and this depends on various factors such as the type of drug, the dose you took and how your body reacts to the drug.
When Is A Drug Test Needed?
A drug test might be done at various steps or for different purposes, depending on the organization. It is required during the following:
- Employers might screen you before hiring or they might also test employees during the job to check drug use within the company.
- Sports athletes often require sports doping tests to improve performance such as steroids to help build muscle.
- In people with alcohol use disorder, alcohol screening is done to monitor the treatment in certain programs.
- Monitor misuse of prescription drugs such as most people misuse opioids and use them for relaxation or numbness rather than pain relief.
- For toxicology screening to detect acute overdose in some cases.
Can A Drug Test Detect Addiction?
Not really! Drug screening can’t detect or diagnose a drug use disorder or addiction directly but it can only serve as one of the evidence during addiction evaluation in a person. A drug test can only indicate a recent drug use in a person whereas addiction needs a comprehensive evaluation of signs and symptoms and various other factors.
If your employer or any other workplace is asking for a drug test, you can visit the Family Urgent Care clinic as we have a built-in lab testing facility with a trained medical staff.
You will be counseled by the healthcare professional to provide a urine sample in a clean, tamper-evident container. Then the lab staff performs the test and rapid test results are available within a couple of minutes.
Once the test results are obtained, our providers will explain the results and answer any questions or queries that you might have.
