Urine? Saliva? Hair? Blood?

What to Know About Each Type of Drug Test

by The True Negative

Will you be tested? When will you be tested? What type of drug test will you receive? As a job candidate or employee, what to expect from an employer drug test may feel like a roll of a dice. Whether you will be tested and when you will be tested is often driven by industry and, in some cases, whether the role is one where workplace intoxication may have particularly detrimental effects to the general public. Meanwhile, what type of drug test you will receive may seem less predictable.

Here’s some information about the different type of drug tests and why employers might choose one test over the other:

Urine Test
• Cheap
• Detects less recent usage than hair tests—ideal for employers if an employee/candidate’s drug use history rather than recency of use is more important

Saliva Test
• Easier to administer than urine tests
• Harder to tamper with than urine tests
• Cheaper than hair follicle tests
• Only detects more recent usage—ideal for employers if recency of use rather than an employee/candidate’s drug use history is more important
• Note: saliva tests are known to result in false negatives as drugs may not necessarily be released into saliva

Hair Follicle Test
• Detects less recent usage than urine and saliva—ideal for employers if an employee/candidate’s drug use history rather than recency of use is more important
• Extent/frequency of drug use can be inferred from result
• Harder to tamper with than urine tests
• Note: some claim hair follicle tests are more susceptible to false positives as hair can be contaminated from being in the presence of smoke and powders from others

Blood Test
• Only detects more recent usage since drugs enter and leave the bloodstream quickly—ideal for employers if recency of use rather than an employee/candidate’s drug use history is more important
• More complicated to administer than urine, saliva or hair follicle test

Which type of drug testing type are our users most commonly receiving? Below is the breakdown of drug test types our users have received:
• Urine: 71%
• Saliva: 13%
• Hair: 10%
• Blood: 2%
• Breath Alcohol: 4%

From this, it’s clear that if you receive an employment drug test, you’re significantly more likely to receive a urine test. Interestingly, the only false positive and false negatives that have been reported are from hair follicle and saliva tests. Here’s one user’s testimony of beating a saliva test:

*“After signing the offer, they stick a saliva test in your mouth and put it in a jar. Almost immediate results to let you know if you're hired. I had smoked 3 days before this test. Saliva tests are easy to pass if you brush your damn teeth.”

Are non-urine drug tests more likely to result in error? We will revisit this once we uncover more insights.

Whether you were drug tested or not, The True Negative wants to hear from you! Please take two minutes to submit information on your drug testing experience here.


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