drug testing question

[tay3318]

So, I got an amazing job at a scribe company! However, I am going to be drug tested and am worried that it might show up due to secondhand marijuana exposure. My mother smokes it and I try to be in a separate room when she does but I cannot always avoid it. Today, about two days before my drug test she walked past me and I breathed in some of the smoke not realizing it was lit (I usually hold my breath when I have to walk into some of the smoke) . So, has anyone else ever had the problem of secondhand smoke exposure and passed/failed? I'm extremely stressed as I will be the only person in my household to hold a job and I desperately need it (and want it).

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[seeinghowitgoes]

Tests are generally not sensitive enough to pick up second hand exposure.

 

[JustAPhD]

Tobacco, weed, crack? There's many things you can smoke. If it's the first two you will be fine. If it's the third, well let's just say my knowledge of crack smoking doesn't make me confident I can actually answer that.

 

[tay3318]

Tobacco, weed, crack? There's many things you can smoke. If it's the first two you will be fine. If it's the third, well let's just say my knowledge of crack smoking doesn't make me confident I can actually answer that.

Sorry, I edited my post. It's weed.

 

[Dral]

These tests are typically meant to figure out if you are an active user. For instance, there is a test for Contine. If I understand correctly, it is an elisa-type based test. I think they somehow have it adjusted to the correct sensitivity as to optimally reduce false positives and false negatives.

There is of course overlap. Someone who is exposed to heavy second hand smoke continuously versus someone who smokes one cigarette a week could have similar test results if they were tested a few days after the person who smoked the one cigarette per week.

Also, someone who is a heavy smoker will take longer to test negative (to be detected as a non active user) after stopping active use, than someone who is a light user.

I understand contine/nicotine is a little different (stays in system for shorter time than THC for example), but I'm just using the above as an example

If you're a user and trying to set up a scenario for a possible false positive...sorry.

If you are experiencing incidental second hand exposure, you should be fine, don't worry.

 

[NotYou20]

You should be ok. Congrats!

 

[Brawndo2016]

I have trained in occupational health at one of my previous jobs. There is a threshold that indicates passive exposure versus first hand use. In general, below the threshold your test will be reported as negative. The threshold number itself, somewhere around 15ng/mL, was derived from actual studies of test subjects in the presence of other test subjects actively using the drug. Basically, some thought has gone in to this and a fair amount of randomness has be ameliorated by this process.

 

[alcoholdehydrogenase69]

If you are really paranoid, you can buy an at home test kit at Walmart or CVS and test yourself. It is just as sensitive as the tests used by companies.