DRUGS
Alcohol
Nicotine
Drugs of Abuse
Drugs in Sport
|
SPECIMENS
Blood
Oral Fluid
Saliva
Urine
Sweat
Hair |
DETECTION
Marijuana
Opiates
Amphetamine
Methamphetamine
Benzodiazepines
Cocaine |
TESTING
Screening
Confirmation
On-site
Laboratory |
COMPARISON
Urine
vs.
Oral Fluid |
| GLOSSARY
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|
STUDIES |
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 |
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Although the "Window
of Detection" (i.e. the time frame within drugs can be detected in the
specimen) differs from drug to drug, the detection windows
below can be used as a rule of thumb:
|
|
|
Blood:
Oral Fluid:
Saliva:
Urine:
Sweat:
Hair: |
Hours ("current use")
Hours ("current use")
Hours ("current use")
Days ("recent use")
Weeks ("late use")
Months ("historic use") |
|
An oral specimen is considered to be the only other body fluid that
compares to blood levels and is showing the same significant correlation
between drug concentrations and behavioural effects.
In oral fluid the detection time for marijuana is 12-24 hours
(i.e. "same-day use"), whereas in urine the detection time is
normally a couple of days but can in some cases be up to several weeks.
This difference relates to another quality:
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|
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Oral Fluid:
Urine: |
Contains the parent drug (THC)
Contains drug metabolites (THCCOOH) |
|
An oral fluid test
reveals the presence of the pharmacologically active drug in the donor at
the time of testing. A urine test relies on metabolites retained in the
body's waste system (where they may linger for weeks) and provides no evidence of impairment.Oral fluid is
not saliva, but a combination of what is in the
mouth and in the blood. Oral fluid is a mixture of gingival crevicular
fluid and saliva and is in fact more akin to an ultrafiltrate of plasma
and is often referred to as oral mucosal transudate (OMT).
Oral fluid is drawn out of
the tissues of the cheek and gums and contains higher levels of antibodies
(than common saliva) which closely match those of serum and provides
blood-equivalent test results for a number of analytes (alcohol,
nicotine, drugs, hormones and infectious diseases).
Sweat and hair testing is not an option at this stage and probably
never will be, because of their longer "Window of
Detection" which
makes them of little use in regards to workplace testing programs.
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