Do you warn donors that drinking water to cheat substance tests won’t work? How many times have you seen dilute specimen results on a drug test?
This article explains why the trick of drinking water won’t work. Below is a summary of that article. We recommend reading the article in its entirety.
Also, we have written a previous blog post about how using oral fluid as a specimen removes all of the tricks listed below.
“Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in 24 states.
However, that doesn’t mean that those who use marijuana recreationally no longer face problems while applying for or maintaining a job.
“Even in legal marijuana states…employees and job applicants have no legal protections for cannabis use,” reads a piece in FindLaw. This means that, as noted by Bloomberg Law, “most states allow employers to test for cannabis use.”
This can pose issues for those who legally use cannabis recreationally but are required to take a drug test as a course of employment.
As a result, there’s a whole industry born out of the need to quickly flush THC out of one’s system. Sellers in this area offer everything from detox kits to synthetic urine and more.
Now, a professional has issued a warning against trying to flush THC out of your body with standard remedies.
Why this trick won’t get you out of a drug test
In a video with over 18 million views as of Saturday, TikTok user @kindlefromthelab advises against using tricks like drinking more water or adding bleach to one’s urine, either to purge substances from the body or to make the sample appear substance-free.
Labs test for that. We test to see how much water you’re drinking.”
“Labs also test for pH…If you add bleach to your urine, which people do, we’re going to know because then we add pH,” she adds later in the video. “We’re also testing creatinine. Anything below 20 is considered diluted, and anything below 2 is considered just like straight up not urine. So if you’re drinking a ton of water and your creatinine is below 20, that’s going to raise some red flags, friend.”
How do people usually try to trick drug tests?
As reported by CBS News in May of this year, “The percentage of employees who tried to fake the results of workplace drug screenings jumped more than six-fold in 2023 from the previous year, according to Quest Diagnostics, a national drug testing company.”
The piece goes on to note that the two most common methods people use for trying to cheat a drug test are “substituting their urine specimens by replacing them with synthetic formulas or even animal urine, or submitting invalid specimens, suggesting they’d been tampered with in order to conceal drug use.””
James P. Randisi, President of Randisi & Associates, Inc., has been helping employers protect their clients, workforce and reputation through implementation of employment screening and drug testing programs since 1999. This post does not constitute legal advice. Randisi & Associates, Inc. is not a law firm. Always contact competent employment legal counsel. To learn more about the rights of employees who test positive for marijuana, Mr. Randisi can be contacted by phone at 410.494.0232 or Email: info@randisiandassociates.com or the website at randisiandassociates.com
