As a measure to enhance productivity and mitigate workplace hazards, most employers emphasize on soberness of the employees, especially during the hiring stage. This has made many people with great potential to lose fantastic opportunities that could have changed their lives. No one can blame an employer for firing or not hiring a drug user that could compromise the production and profits! Most of the firms today have policies demanding pre-employment drug test to make sure that the employees are ‘clean’ and productive.
With all that said, you don’t have to be a casualty of workplace drug tests. Being employed or aspiring to get a job doesn’t mean that you can’t entirely have a good time with your friends on the weekends! Here are some of the important things that you need to know about workplace drug tests.
1. There are different types of drug tests
You need to be aware that there are different types of drug tests that could be administered in the workplace. This enlightenment is important when it comes to preparation for the test. You also need to know that different types of tests detect different drug residues accumulated in the body for certain periods of time.
Of equal importance to note is that each type of drug test has a different objective. Administration of a particular type of drug test can give you a clue of the types of drugs being tested. You can be subjected to a urine drug test, blood, sweat or hair follicle drug test. It is important to know what kind of drug test you are likely to be subjected to so that you can adequately prepare for it.
2. Some foods can lead to false positives
Yes! That’s right. You don’t have to take the particular illegal drug for you to test positive! There are common food items that lead to false positives when consumed prior to the drug test. Hemp seeds and vitamin B supplements can make you test positive for marijuana, tonic water and poppy seeds can make you test positive for opiates while cough syrups can lead to a false positive for meth!
Now you see, you don’t have to take the drugs for you to test positive! The best thing that you can do is to avoid any of the above food items to stay safe. The above food items are not the only ones. Granola bars, Azo, and quinine water also lead to false positives!
3. Drug test technology is improving day by day
Drug test technology is advancing at a high rate to beat the common tricks that used to beat the tests in the past. A procedure or method used to pass a particular drug test is likely to fail today. This is because the technology has identified such hitches and addressed them.
You ought to be aware of outdated methods. There are some home self-test kits that can give you misleading results which can easily make fail a drug test and lose the job. Make sure that you go for the modern ones from trusted stores and retailers. Modern drug test kits are designed and improved in such a way that they can detect even the minute drug residues in your body system.
4. It is possible to clean your system
The best way to pass a drug test is simply abstaining from the drugs. However, if you have already taken the drugs and you get a life changing job opportunity, there are ways that you can get cleaned prior to the test.
You can take a lot of water to flash your body system, take diuretics, exercise and track your progress using a home self-test kit. However, none of the above methods are 100% sure but they are reliable for the common drug tests like blood, saliva and urine drug test.
5. Excuses will never count
The worst thing that you can ever think of is counting on excuses to be cleared from a drug test. The employer is not interested in the ways or circumstances under which the drugs were administered in your body. He/she is only interested in the results: positive or negative.
You will be long gone before you even think of going to explain the results. The best thing to do is to adequately prepare for the drug test. Do what is necessary to pass it keeping in mind that even a false positive can lead to your job termination.
6. Prescriptions and medications can compromise your test results
Before taking the drug test, make sure that you notify the relevant authorities of the medications that you are taking. This is because some of the drug residues have the same molecular compounds that can be identified as illegal drugs by the test administered. To be safe, avail your medical reports to avoid such shortcomings.
Just like any other test in life or school, a drug test requires adequate preparation for you to pass it. Don’t be ignorant. With the above knowledge, you can be able to prepare for the test and pass it!
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