When something makes you feel good, you often do not want to stop experiencing it. Who wants to feel bad anyway? This is basically the same in taking prescription medications. When the pain, physical, mental, emotional, reaches a point when you just cannot take it any longer, you would often prefer drowning yourself in meds, no matter how harmful it may, rather than feel it debilitating effects. This has been and still is the attitude of a lot of people taking prescription medications and find themselves hooked and dependent on it. Belatedly that they realize that they just do not have to deal with the withdrawal symptoms later on, but its overall effect on your life, including your work, especially when you are suddenly scheduled to take a drug test and you have been taking medications that were not prescribed for you by your doctor.

First of all, you have to remember that there are prescription medications that may affect the result of your drug test. Make sure you have a prescription for the meds you are taking to present when questioned on a result of the drug test.

Drug testing is often conducted randomly to enable the employer to check whether their employees are dependent on substances. Aside from this, drug tests are also used for medico legal purposes, especially when they are trying to determine the cause of death of a certain person, or their history. It is also used for toxicological purposes to find out if there are certain substances in the body that they have taken in excess.

Urine Drug Test

The most common type as well as the fastest and cheapest is the urine drug test. It is also synonymous to a drug urinalysis. The sample collected for this test is given on site to those who will test it.It only needs a small sample of fresh urine to be placed on a small cardboard strip to determine the presence of certain substances. It may also be brought to the laboratory for tests such as gas chromatography and mass spectrophotometry. Other tests may be done on the urine sample to determine its purity and accuracy since some people add water to their samples to be able to dilute it. Some even place drug masking substances to hide the drugs. Fortunately, there are several tests that can be done to ensure its purity. To test for a diluted sample, the specific gravity is taken. To test for masking substances, the drug in question is placed in the sample, and then measured. If it comes out negative even with the addition of the drug may indicate the presence of a masking substance. When this occurs, then the person being tested is disqualified from taking a drug test.

Hair follicle Drug Test

Another type of drug test is the hair drug test. The procedure for this uses several strands of hair taken from the root for testing, around 3 mm in diameter. When a drug is used for a long period of time, metabolites of the drug usually get stored in the strand. It is considered to be quite accurate and can test for as long as 90 days although the presence of the drug can be seen around a week after use. It can detect more extensively the presence of drugs which was not found using a urine test. Even if they are taking these drugs intermittently, they can still be detected. It can also be used to see check the period of time the drug was used, like when it was started and when it was stopped. This is seen in testing for opiates like morphine although with cocaine, it is not possible. For this reason, it is now becoming more popular in drug screening as compared to urine drug screening because of its accuracy. Some people, in their attempt to get away from having their hair tested for drugs, shave their heads. Unfortunately for them, their body hair will be used as sample instead. Also, it can also be sufficient grounds for not getting hired.

Saliva Drug Test

The saliva can also be a medium to test for drugs in the body. It is found to cost more than a urine drug test but it is quite affordable as compared to hair or blood testing. It is gaining popularity in drug testing because of its easier collection methods and availability although the procedure should be done in a laboratory for accuracy. This test is also quite reliable since it cannot be contaminated or diluted to produce negative results. A saliva drug test can detect recent drug use as compared to the others which must wait for a few days before positive results can be seen. This test is found to be more reliable in detecting opiates and methamphetamines among other drug screening tests.

Sweat Drug Test

Sweat can also be used as a medium for drug screening. It is still rarely used because of its difficulty in collection as well as its cost since a patch must be worn for the collection of sweat for a certain period of time, around 10 to 14 days. Even its accuracy is still being questioned since it is prone to contaminants such as smoke. But, it can also detect the presence of some drugs that causes a negative result in urine drug tests. The sweat drug screening test is found to be effective for detection of drug use for an extended period of time since it cannot just be removed from the skin, thus drug usage during this time will be detected.

Blood Drug Test

A sample of blood can also be used to detect the presence of several drugs although it is considered to be the most costly among all the tests. It is also painful because of the invasive way a sample is taken. But it is the most accurate among them. It is employed for its accuracy, which can even stand in court should legal proceedings take place and a need for drug tests is advised.

Standard Drug Tests

There are a lot of prescription drugs being abused but not all are tested for, especially in routine drug tests. The National Institute on Drug Abuse or NIDA, and the Substance Abuse and mental Health Services Administration have come up with 5 specific groups of drugs that comprise the standard drug tests. They are the following:
1. Cocaine, which includes crack, and benzoylecognine
2. Opiates, which includes opium, heroin, morphine, and codeine
3. Cannabinoids, which includes hash and marijuana
4. Amphetamines which includes speed and methamphetamines
5. Phencyclidine, which includes PCP

Additional Drug Tests

Some companies offer additional screening tests for other drugs such as the following:
1. barbiturates like secobarbitol, butalbital, and Phenobarbital,
2. Benzodiazepines like Valium, Librium, Xanax, Rohypnol, and Serax
3. hydrocodone like Vicodin and Lortab
4. Methadone
5. Methaqualone
6. Propoxyphene
7. MDMA or ecstasy
8. Ethanol or alcohol
9. Inhalants including benzene, toluene, and xylene
10. LSD
11. Phenethylamines including Mescaline, MDA, MDE
12. Tryptamines such as AMT, Psiloycybin, DPT, etc.
The last four substances are rarely tested for but may still be tested if needed.

A lot of people think that taking prescription drugs without the proper prescriptions are just fine since they are not detected anyway during drug screening. Contrary to their belief, the metabolites of these medications may be detected in drug tests, such as Valium and Hydrocodone that are frequently abused. Even antibiotics such as quinolones may give a false positive result to opiates which is a good reason for you to present a proper prescription for the medications that you are taking to rule out the possibility of having false positive results, which may inadvertently affect your employment.

Drug testing is a method used by employers and government agencies to screen people for any illegal use of drugs. If you are taking any form of medication prescribed by your doctor, it would be advisable to tell them beforehand. And, although quite daunting to take a drug screening test, it should not cause any fear, unless of course, you have sufficient reason to be scared.