Did you know that there is such a thing as drug testing on your hair?

Question

I was in my workplace office today and saw a paper tacked up for having this done. Apparently the drugs never leave your hair until it all grows out and is cut off. The test is pretty expensive but I never heard of such a thing. I don't do drugs but found this interesting.

Answer 1

Yes, this is a very common way for many companies to test for drug use going a ways back. Here's a bit more info:

"Hair testing is quite accurate and can go back 6 months or longer, showing any controlled substances used in a sort of timeline. As hair grows out, any drugs used are encased in the hair shaft, so the longer the hair, the longer back in the individual's drug history the lab can detect. Most legitimate testing facilities, however, only use hair within about 3-5 cm of the scalp, and discard the rest. This limits the detection history to about 90 days, depending upon the rate of growth of the individual's hair. Some people attempt to circumvent this through shaving their heads. In the absence of the required amount of hair on the scalp, body hair can be used as an acceptable substitute. Additionally, for pre-employment hair testing, the inability to obtain a sample may be grounds for not hiring the individual."

Answer 2

* Are currently several times more expensive than urine tests (~$100-$150).
* Are considered a relatively unintrusive method of drug testing.
* Detect substance use over a longer period (see detection period).
* Do not usually detect use within the past week.
* Require a sample of hair about the diameter of a pencil and 1.5 inches long. They can not be done with a single hair.
* Test positive a little more than twice as often as a urine test. In a recent study, out of 1823 paired hair and urine samples, 57 urine samples tested positive for drugs of abuse; while 124 hair samples from the same group tested positive.
* Are not significantly affected by brief periods of abstinence from drugs.
* Can sometimes be used to determine when use occured and if it has been discontinued. Drugs, such as opiates (codeine, morphine, heroin) lay down on the hair shaft very tightly and are shown not to migrate along the shaft, thus, if a long segment of hair is available one can draw some "relative" conclusions about when the use occurred. However cocaine, although very easy to detect, is able to migrate along the shaft; making it very difficult to determine when the drug was used and for how long.
* Claims to be able to reliably differentiate between opiate and poppy seed use.
* We've heard that many hair tests now check for more than the NIDA 5, and include at least Cannabis, Ecstasy/MDMA, Cocaine, Opiates, Methamphetamine, Amphetamine, Phencyclidine (PCP), Benzodiazepines, & Barbiturates (2001).

Answer 3

Yes, the hair testing has been around for several years. The military primarily uses urine testing for drugs, and does that about once every 3 month's to catch the more "popular" drugs. The hair testing, which you pointed out as being more expensive, is used to find a more wide range of drugs that someone has done, or is doing. The military does do both hair and urine testing when they are concerned about the drug usage of some of the soldiers.

Answer 4

Yes i did know this.As drugs are ingested into the body, they circulate in a persons bloodstream. Trace amounts of these drugs or the drug metabolites are deposited in the hair follicle. As the hair grows they remain stored in the core of the hair shaft.
When a person is tested, samples are taken at various levels in the hair shaft so that a reasonably accurate approximation can be made of how long ago a particular drug was used. Drugs cannot be washed, bleached, or flushed out of the hair follicle.

Answer 5

Yes. I know of that testing. There are kits out there available to the public that are just for testing for drugs from hair cuttings.'

Answer 6

Yes and Egyptian mummies have traces of South American drugs in their hair. Now that's interesting.

Answer 7

Yes... It is used extensively by many corporations that have safety critical jobs b/c as it was put earlier you can not cover it up unless the hair is cut off... i guess druggies should shave their heads...

Answer 8

Its sampling the root of your hair. The root of your hair will tell everything you have ever done. (No it does not leave when your hair grows out.) It is always there.

Answer 9

It stays in the root of your hair for up to 30 days (pot)

Answer 10

Oh yes, why do you think I got a crew cut??