What is fake urine?
Fake urine, also known as synthetic urine is exactly what it sounds like. In 1828, chemist Friedrich Wöhler invented the first fake urine. Since then, fake urine has been used for scientific research projects, clinical trials, and for testing products like baby diapers. For non-scientists—or scientists desperate to pass a drug test—fake urine has had another purpose.

No, what EXACTLY is fake urine?
Fake urine is a mix of water, creatinine, uric acid, and various salts, which are meant to match the normal components found in real human urine. The exact mixture varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Among the fake urine products on the market, there are two forms, liquid and powder.

Pre-mixed fake urine is a ready-to-use liquid that is sold in bottles or pouches. Powdered fake urine, on the other hand, is a dry mix that must be reconstituted with water before use. This type of fake urine is usually more affordable than pre-mixed fake urine and has a longer shelf life. However, the quality of powdered fake urine can vary widely since the ability of it to be mixed to resemble real urine is going to depend on the skills of both the manufacturer and the user.

What happens during an employment urine test?
There are two types of urine tests, supervised tests and non-supervised test. Supervised drug tests are ones where someone is watching you in some form. The most extreme one is a direct observation, where someone checks to make sure you don’t have any devices for carrying “clean” urine on you. Then the observer watches you pee into the cup. This method typically isn’t the norm with employment testing. Some employers like the Department of Transportation (DOT) require supervised testing only under certain conditions. The less extreme version of supervised testing is a monitored collection, where the collector doesn’t check you for devices carrying clean urine and doesn’t watch you pee. Instead, they may walk you to the stall and listen for sounds of tampering but will not actually enter the stall with you.

A non-supervised drug test is a type of drug test where you provide the urine sample without direct observation. In this case, you pee in a private area, such as a bathroom or a designated testing room, without direct observation from a supervisor. Realistically, it’s this type of scenario where there’s a chance that you could get away with fake urine.

After the test, the results are taken to a lab for analysis where it’s tested to both confirm it’s real and to test it for drugs.

How do I use fake urine?
Step 1: Order the product. There are many products on the market in both liquid and powder forms. Test Clear has one that they describe as “powdered natural urine,” stating that synthetic urine often contains chemicals that are easily detectable by drug testing labs while their natural format does not have this issue.
Step 3: Prepare the urine. Many of the fake urine kits today come with a heating pad, temperature gauge, and/or hand warmer. Since human urine should be a similar temperature to the human body, testers will use the temperature of the urine as one of the tests to determine whether the urine is real. The warmer and the temperature gauge are to get and keep the urine at the right temperature.
Step 4: Don’t get caught.

What happens if I get caught?
If the employer asked for a drug test and you’re caught with fake urine, expect to be treated the same way you would if you failed a test. In many states, buying, selling, or being in the possession of fake urine is a crime. Even if it is legal in your state, trying to cheat a drug test can be interpreted as trying to commit an act of fraud.

Does fake urine work?
Online research suggests yes. Test Clear’s product has over 500 five star reviews. In the journal article, Can synthetic urine replace authentic urine to “beat” workplace drug testing?, researchers tested 8 fake urine products against Army drug testing procedures. While all of the products tested negative, 5 of the 8 could be detected as fake urine by looking at the product. Another studyfound that fake urine is hard to detect depending on what componenents of the fake urine the test is designed to test. This is a game of cat and mouse between the fake urine makers and the makers of the drug testing equpiment. The number of components that could be tested for is endless and the cost of performing a test for all of them is too expensive for most companies. In other words, as long as the fake urine makers know how to make the components most likely to be tested as real as possible, the drug tests might not detect the components as fake. In summary, the answer is “it depends.”

Should I do it?
Many things have to go well in order to get away with fake urine. Between knowing whether or not it’s going to be a supervised test and knowing how to get the consistency and temperature right, there’s a lot to stress about. With fake urine, if there is evidence of contamination, you may be disqualified automatically for attempting to tamper with it. Meanwhile there are detox products and methods, such as the Certo Detox method, where you’re unlikely to get disqualified from a job for simply attempting to detox.

Have you attempted to pass a drug test with fake urine? Share your experience here.