| If
you've been exposed to any illegal substances or even
used in small amounts, with today's technology you are
still at high risk of failing your drug test.
Drug
cutoff levels are the minimum concentrations of
drugs or metabolites
that must be present in specimens, before labs will
report the drug testing results as positive. How much
of a drug labs can detect depends on drug
detection times, frequency of use, type of specimen,
drug testing method, metabolism,
and other factors.
Labs
that follow the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace
Drug Testing Programs published by the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),
first conduct one or more initial screens followed by
confirmatory tests. The approved methods for urine analysis
and hair analysis are one or more types of immunoassay
(IA) screens, confirmed by gas
chromatography and mass
spectrometry (GC/MS). If you test below the drug
cutoff levels on
the initial screens, the lab cannot report it as positive
or continue with the confirmatory tests. If you test
above them on the initial screens, but below them on
the confirmatory test, the lab still cannot report it
as positive.
Basic
testing typically screens for the following, commonly-abused
drugs.
- Amphetamines
(speed, meth, crank, ecstasy)
- Cannabinoids
(marijuana, hash)
- Cocaine
(coke, crack)
- Opiates
(heroin, morphine, opium, codeine)
- Phencyclidine
(PCP)
Extended
testing might also screen for some or all of the following,
but basic testing is the most common.
- Barbituates
(phenobarbital, butabital, secobarbitol)
- Benzodiazepines
(tranquilizers like Valium, Librium, Xanax)
- Ethanol
(ethyl alcohol, booze)
- Hallucinogens
(LSD, mushrooms, mescaline, peyote)
- Inhalants
(paint, glue, hairspray)
- Anabolic
Steroids (synthesized, muscle-building hormones)
The
tables below are compiled from public-domain information
in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug
Testing Programs. They are for urine analysis of the
commonly-abused types of drugs known as the "SAMHSA
Five."
|
Drug |
Nanograms
per Milliliter (ng/ml) |
| Marijuana
metabolites |
50 |
| Cocaine
metabolites |
150 |
| Opiate
metabolites 1 |
2000 |
| Phencyclidine
(PCP) |
25 |
| Amphetamines 2 |
500 |
1 Labs
are permitted to initial test all specimens
for 6-acetylmorphine at a 10 ng/ml cutoff
2 Target analyte must be d-methamphetamine
and the test must significantly cross-react
with MDMA, MDA, and MDEA |
Drug
Test Cutoff Levels for the (GC/MS) Test |
| Drug |
Nanograms
per Milliliter (ng/ml) |
| Marijuana
metabolite 1 |
15 |
| Cocaine
metabolite 2 |
100 |
Opiates
Morphine
Codeine
6-acetylmorphine 4 |
2000
2000
10 |
| Phencyclidine
(PCP) |
25 |
Amphetamines
Amphetamine
Methamphetamine 3
MDMA
MDA
MDEA |
250
250
250
250
250 |
1
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid
2 Benzoylecgonine
3 Specimen must also contain d-amphetamine
at a concentration > 100 ng/ml
4 Labs test for 6-acetylmorphine
when the morphine concentration exceeds 2,000
ng/ml |
Drug
Test Cutoff Levels for the (GC/MS) Hair Follicle
Test |
| Drug |
picoograms per Milliliter (pg/ml) |
| Marijuana
metabolite 1 |
1 |
| Cocaine
metabolite 2 |
300 |
| Opiates |
500 |
| Phencyclidine
(PCP) |
300 |
Amphetamines / Methamphetamine 3
MDMA (Ecstasy) |
300
300 |
1 Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic
acid
2 Benzoylecgonine
3 Specimen must also contain d-amphetamine
at a concentration > 100 ng/ml
|
| Drug
Test Cutoff Levels for Saliva Swab Testing |
| Drug |
nanoograms
per Milliliter (ng/ml) |
| Marijuana
(THC) |
2 |
| Cocaine
metabolite 2 / Benzoylecgonine |
30 |
| Opiates
/ Morphine |
30 |
| Phencyclidine
(PCP) |
50 |
Amphetamines
/ Methamphetamine 3
MDMA (Ecstasy) |
50
50 |
1 Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic
acid
2 Benzoylecgonine
3 Specimen must also contain
d-amphetamine at a concentration > 100
ng/ml
|
Notes
6-acetylmorphine
(6-AM) is a heroin metabolite and also called 6-monoacetylmorphine
(6-MAM). 6-AM is rapidly metabolized to morphine, so
will not likely be detected in most urine specimens.
But of course, morphine will likely be detected after
recent heroin use. Because codeine is a naturally-occurring
alkaloid in the opium poppy juice that is the source
of morphine and heroin, it too might be in the urine
of heroin users.
Codeine
is rapidly metabolized and excreted in urine as codeine,
morphine, or both. Morphine is a metabolite of codeine,
but not the other way around, so ingestion of morphine
will not account for the presence of codeine.
The
chemical names for the most-common forms of amphetamines
are d-amphetamine and d-methamphetamine.
MDMA,
MDA and MDEA are
methylene-dioxy derivatives of amphetamine and methamphetamine.
They are the so-called "designer drugs" commonly
known as Ecstasy, X, XTC, etc.
An
analyte is the substance for which the lab is testing
(analyzing).
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