Tests to Detect the Presence of Drugs in the Organism There are different types of drug test and all are used for the same purpose: detect the presence of drugs in the body. Depending on the type of test, a biological sample (urine, blood, saliva, sweat or hair) is analyzed to detect the presence of drugs or their metabolites in the human body. Although there are different types of samples in which drug tests are performed, the procedure for sample safety is similar in all of them. The sample is placed in a special container, sealed and then sent to laboratories for analysis. In the laboratory, it is checked that the sample has no signs of being opened or that there is a possibility of having been adulterated. If there is evidence that the container has been tampered with or adulterated sample, the laboratory rejects the sample and does not perform the analysis. For some tests, the urine or saliva may be used in its natural condition, but for other tests the previous extraction of the samples is necessary. Other samples require a special type of preparation before being checked. Drug tests are conducted in laboratories at two levels, using two different methods, they are known as screening tests and confirmatory tests. Screening tests are performed through a method of immunoassay, a biochemical test that measures the concentration of drugs or their metabolites in some of the biological fluids such as blood, urine saliva, etc. The most commonly used technique is enzyme immunoassay (ELISA method) and enzyme multiplied immunoassay (EMIT). To measure the concentration of the drug or its metabolites in the fluid, these tests make use of the antigen-antibody reaction. All negative samples are discarded and reported as such. Those that give positive are sent to the next level for additional tests (confirmation method). The confirmatory test is used only on samples that tested positive during the screening test. The test is performed using a mass spectrometry, a technique that allows the determination of the basic constituents of the molecules in the sample. This method is the most accurate, but also the most expensive, so this is the reason that is not used as screening. A positive screening test and negative test result during the confirmatory test will be considered a false positive and will be reported as negative. On the other hand, a positive result in both tests will be reported as such. There are some drug test kits on the market that can be used at home. But it is necessary to consider several consequences that can lead If there is no consent on the part of the person who is going to be submitted to the study. For example, if a parent wants to do a drug test for their child, they may feel offended and create a conflict at home. A urine test using drug test kits is the most common home test to detect drugs. This test has its limitations so the following problems must be considered: The test may not detect all illicit drugs (LSD, ketamine, ecstasy, inhalants or the use of anabolic steroids). Neither can in some cases detect alcohol, which is the substance that most commonly needs to be discarded.
Another detail is that urine tests that detect drug use can be misleading and give false positives that must be confirmed with more specific tests or false negatives as a result of the drug's own metabolism in the body. You can use drug test in bulk for your employees to save costs.