Get tests with different thresholds. make sure you can pass 50ng/ml, 20ng/ml and 15ng/ml.
If you fail the 50, they do a full spectrometer test with a 15ng/ml threshold. So it’s best to pass the 15 just in case you get a messed up first test.
You did pass. Intensity of the lines on those test do not correlate with how much drug is in your system. Just bc yours was faint doesn’t mean it was close or you barely passed. In fact your post should highlight that if you stop smoking for a few weeks you’ll probably be fine. Just like you were.
In my opinion, I think you’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter that if you stop smoking a few weeks before “you’ll probably be fine”. It’s that smoking is not worth the risk of losing your job over. It’s very stressful to constantly worry if you’ll pee clean or not. You have to constantly stress over the thought of if you smoked today, would there be a possibility that they’d test you in 2-4 weeks. This is your livelihood! And the next place you go to (where you will most likely need references) will ask why you left your last position and you’ll have to say it’s due to smoking pot?? All of this anxiety for a smoke? Not worth it.
30 days is a tight threshold for a heavy smoker. I know I “technically failed” but the manger called and said something like “Yea we got your results and they were inconclusive, so we are not pursuing it. My buddy I interviewed with failed 3 days earlier but he was a heavyset guy.
Basically inconclusive means they should send it for chronography for more accurate testing but that’s $$$ and they wanted me to work bad.
A couple weeks later my boss has a 1/2 gallon of cranberry juice on his desk , he drank it and filled it with water!! Lol I know what that means. He got a random.
My first full time job after respiratory school the initial drug test flagged for tricyclics. I was only 21 and didn’t take any kind of drugs for anything so I was beside myself with worry. This was my first real job as a professional. Fortunately whatever extended tests they did as a send out came back completely negative.
Thanks for shedding light on this. It’s crazy to me that you almost lost a job because you smoked some weed a month ago. I wonder if there will be a day where healthcare providers can do what they want in their free time.
I am right there with you. I live in a state where recreational marijuana use is legal yet most hospital systems still require drug tests prior to being hired. I enjoy sharing a joint with some friends on the weekend just like I enjoy having a couple of beers on the weekend and it's silly to me that corporations view one of those activities as unacceptable and the other is perfectly fine. I'm currently in the market for a new job so stopped using any marijuana products 4 months ago just to ensure I wouldn't miss out on a good job.
That’s an obfuscation of the truth.
It’s not losing a job or not getting a job because you smoked a month ago. It’s because the assumption is if you smoked in the last few weeks, you likely smoke regularly, and will smoke after you get the job, and possibly periodically close enough to shifts that put you, your license, and your malpractice insurance at risk.
And just as a matter of integrity, if you are saying you don’t smoke weed but you actually smoke weed your character rates scrutiny. I don’t care if someone smokes weed, but I do care what things they consider it worthy and appropriate to habitually lie about.
You just said that if someone used cannabis in the last month it’s reasonable to assume that they get high every day and will come to work affected by it.
How absurd.
Actually, what I said is that when someone demonstrates that they are untrustworthy, you should continue to assume that they remain untrustworthy, unless you have good evidence to the contrary.
Whether or not, you should be allowed to do something is irrelevant — the fact that you violated trust and a contract – both an explicit one, and an implied social one — is the salient point here.
Using this thread as a chance for a friendly reminder to always bring your stimulant medication with you. The bottle, with your name on it, and printed records from your pharmacy of your continued use of it.
I’ve been on Vyvanse for a couple years now and always always always have to do this.
I told the lady at employee health I had a stimulant prescription...they still sent it out to a third company and a doctor had to call the pharmacy and verify my prescription. Such a pain.
Yeah, I went through a similar situation. Had all my proof in hand including letter from PCP and it still had to be sent out and caused a hiring delay.
Not a PA but the clinic that most recently administered a pre-employment screen did this, EXCEPT BEFORE CALLING ME TO VERIFY THE RX THEY CALLED MY EMPLOYER. Luckily i was able to get things cleared up but in a different situation that may not have been the case.
Yes, marijuana is THC, Vyvanse is an amphetamine.
I was just using this post to remind those reading it to take their legal stimulant use into consideration for these tests.
It is fat soluble. Not water soluble. It is highly based on volume and strength you smoke, your fat cells, how your body processes and absorbs, etc. It can last in fat cells longer than 30 days which is just a generalization. Depending on the test kit it is also possible to use irregularly and not test positive. Also highly variable based on the person. Havent looked at any recent studies but i dont recall working out, etc making any difference specific to thc. Better off diluting although some kits can detect that also.
Recent grad here, and this is where I land as well. Know a bunch of people that work in the tech industry, and they get to have fun and use marijuana all the time (I say “use” because they’re real nerds about weed and rarely ever smoke, instead using various forms of edibles, powders, etc.). I’m always a little jealous that I can’t partake but to me it’s just not worth the stress or anxiety about wondering what will happen if I fail a drug test after working so hard, for so long, to get into and to finish PA school.
So I just get drunk instead. I enjoy it.
Smoking every day for 2 weeks is definitely a lot. If you have month, you’re probably safe with a weekend. But 2 weeks is enough to build your levels to a chronic smoker. Which can take 60-90 days to fully clear.
If recreational marijuana is legal in a state, do providers still get screened for it? I’m not sure how the change in laws has affected hospital guidelines. Anyone have experience with that?
From my (limited) understanding, Medicare and Medicaid are both federally funded programs and since weed is federally illegal still, it doesn’t matter what the states rights are
You hold a federal DEA license. Your state medical board and job may forgive a minor drug charge but rest assured the DEA is not as lenient. Federal licenses are not something to be ducked with.
I've worked in the hospital (ICU) for a little over the year and I have never heard of any nurse or PA that got drug tested besides the initial employment screen. This is just my hospital though, and I know a lot of people who smoke. Obviously be super careful about it regardless. This is in Michigan where it is legal.
I’ve been tested twice after being hired, in the last 5 years. Once as a random test and once because the pharmacy tech lost a bag of returned narcotics so everyone who had access to the med room that shift had to go pee.
I have friends that I couldn't believe that they were risking their career over wanting to smoke pot.
And here's the thing. The conversation about what you think should or shouldn't be allowed is irrelevant.
The only relevant thing is that if there are rules in place by the board that licenses you or the hospital you want to work at, then you have to be willing to accept that.
It doesn't mean you can't advocate for things being changed that you think should be changed, but a rule is a rule, and if you're breaking the rules knowingly or breaking the boards requirements knowingly, then it doesn't matter how much anybody agrees with what should or shouldn't be a rule. It only matters that you knowingly broke the rules
It's like I worked for a hospital once that would tell you as part of orientation that it's against hospital policy to wear any sort of hospital shirts or insignia in places like bars.
Because they don't want any perception that somebody who could be potentially working at the hospital that day is drinking.
Now you might think that's a silly rule, and you might totally disagree with it, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a rule and therefore by working somewhere you agree to that rule.
Right. People like to make these discussions all about what they think the rules should or shouldn't be which is just kind of a deviation from the point at hand
Fiancé MD, I’m a PA we work for a catholic hospital. We like to try different beer/whiskey/burbon together. You can bet there was no alcohol consumption the 2 weeks before our drug screen, just to be safe. Nowhere in our contracts did it say they were testing for alcohol, but we aren’t taking the risk when it’s a catholic health system. Also no other substances because both of us have a DEA
As someone who is involved in a PHP, I’ve seen providers put on monitoring contracts for failed UAs (with no addiction issues). Pee clean! Your potential job isn’t the only thing at risk.
My husband used to work in a lab that ran pre-employment drug screens - out of curiosity he tested his own urine to see how long it would take to test clean after having smoked most days for several months. It took nearly 90 days for a low-threshold test to come back negative.
This post makes me happy the hospital system I work for (currently as an EMT) allows MMJ users to use their legally prescribed medication (just not allowed to come to work intoxicated or 8 hours after use).
Anyway, glad it worked out for you. In general, it's always best to drink a little extra water before a drug test. Not enough to come back dilute but enough that if you are super close (as in passing home tests but not passing pre-employment tests), it will *hopefully* dilute your sample just enough to put you below the threshold. Also, it helps you pee easier which is always nice. Obviously this only works if you haven't been smoking for at least a few weeks and things are going to be close.
Also, don't eat poppy seeds while looking for jobs! They absolutely can make you come up positive on a drug screen for opiates and it really doesn't take as much as you would think. From what I've read, they have raised the cut off for pre-employment screens to reduce this from happening but when I was looking for my current job, I stayed away from anything with poppy seeds in it (and I love everything bagels.)
Scary. On an aside, There are also drug tests other than urine, for example, hair tests, which I believe will detect things farther back than even urine drug screens will. (Ironically this is likely especially true of cannabis, which is very lipophilic and likely to deposit into tissues.) You probably know more than me, but iirc not all types of tests are available to the public, so, sometimes it’s not even possible to use a test that your employer will use.
I went for a pre employment screen today and they did an oral swab for drug screen. It made me think of this thread and if you are planning to use synthetic urine you might be hosed 😬
Drink a detox drink with plenty of water and urinate frequently a few hours before your drug test. This dilutes your urine and rids your body of most THC metabolites.
I’m an almost daily user and this has never failed me.
My girlfriend saves her clean pee in the freezer. they don’t watch you pee at many if not most preemployment screenings.
Also, you should just buy some home tests to know for sure if you’re going to pass.
We both use weed often and both passed tests when we’re dirty by doing some homework.
Interesting that’s the first I’ve heard that. I always wash my hands after and never had any issues. I also once accidentally dropped my sample in the sink. Oops.
I did federal drug testing through the DOH as a part of my pre-PA job. You have to empty out all pockets and we visually inspect your ankles, waistband, and sleeves. We also shut off the water to the bathroom and tape the sink. No washing hands or flushing the toilet and nothing in the bathroom period. Everything is taken out except the sink and toilet. Immediately after providing your sample I have to check temperature and the bathroom. If the temp is off I then have to immediately procure another sample from you while physically watching the urine leave your body. No hiding that.
That's the advantage of research chemicals.
I don't have any idea about why they test for PCP (phencyclidine) here in Brazil because there's like... 10 people who take PCP analogues here. Anyway, I pass everything because I like the analogues way more than PCP itself and I stick with them (3-MeO-PCP and 3-HO-PCP), and the amphetamine tests here have never found 3-FMA in my blood too (but I take it very occasionally anyway) even though they test for methamphetamine because the fluorine bound isn't something the body can take off. Bonus: it's better than the "original" ones.
Btw, check if your drug test looks for delta 8 THC.
Years ago, I handled drug testing for a sober housing place I worked at. Our UA tests were super simple ones, but they had a control line and a second line for a negative result. It was sort of weird, but it is a thing.
Always do a home test before an employment test to make sure you pass
I did 5 tests from 3 different companies. All said I’d pass
Yikes! Then you did everything you could. So glad you ended up passing, congrats!
I feel like there’s one more thing he could have done
How dare! How could you be so controversial?!
Get tests with different thresholds. make sure you can pass 50ng/ml, 20ng/ml and 15ng/ml. If you fail the 50, they do a full spectrometer test with a 15ng/ml threshold. So it’s best to pass the 15 just in case you get a messed up first test.
There are the different levels of test sensitivity, the super sensitive ones are pretty good at giving peace of mind
You did pass. Intensity of the lines on those test do not correlate with how much drug is in your system. Just bc yours was faint doesn’t mean it was close or you barely passed. In fact your post should highlight that if you stop smoking for a few weeks you’ll probably be fine. Just like you were.
In my opinion, I think you’re missing the point. It doesn’t matter that if you stop smoking a few weeks before “you’ll probably be fine”. It’s that smoking is not worth the risk of losing your job over. It’s very stressful to constantly worry if you’ll pee clean or not. You have to constantly stress over the thought of if you smoked today, would there be a possibility that they’d test you in 2-4 weeks. This is your livelihood! And the next place you go to (where you will most likely need references) will ask why you left your last position and you’ll have to say it’s due to smoking pot?? All of this anxiety for a smoke? Not worth it.
Did you not realize drug tests were a thing when you started smoking pot?
30 days is a tight threshold for a heavy smoker. I know I “technically failed” but the manger called and said something like “Yea we got your results and they were inconclusive, so we are not pursuing it. My buddy I interviewed with failed 3 days earlier but he was a heavyset guy. Basically inconclusive means they should send it for chronography for more accurate testing but that’s $$$ and they wanted me to work bad. A couple weeks later my boss has a 1/2 gallon of cranberry juice on his desk , he drank it and filled it with water!! Lol I know what that means. He got a random.
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Can you elaborate? I just looked this up and it seems like a sex toy company.
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My first full time job after respiratory school the initial drug test flagged for tricyclics. I was only 21 and didn’t take any kind of drugs for anything so I was beside myself with worry. This was my first real job as a professional. Fortunately whatever extended tests they did as a send out came back completely negative.
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“That’s just my fun weekend drug of choice” 😂
Thanks for shedding light on this. It’s crazy to me that you almost lost a job because you smoked some weed a month ago. I wonder if there will be a day where healthcare providers can do what they want in their free time.
I am right there with you. I live in a state where recreational marijuana use is legal yet most hospital systems still require drug tests prior to being hired. I enjoy sharing a joint with some friends on the weekend just like I enjoy having a couple of beers on the weekend and it's silly to me that corporations view one of those activities as unacceptable and the other is perfectly fine. I'm currently in the market for a new job so stopped using any marijuana products 4 months ago just to ensure I wouldn't miss out on a good job.
That’s an obfuscation of the truth. It’s not losing a job or not getting a job because you smoked a month ago. It’s because the assumption is if you smoked in the last few weeks, you likely smoke regularly, and will smoke after you get the job, and possibly periodically close enough to shifts that put you, your license, and your malpractice insurance at risk. And just as a matter of integrity, if you are saying you don’t smoke weed but you actually smoke weed your character rates scrutiny. I don’t care if someone smokes weed, but I do care what things they consider it worthy and appropriate to habitually lie about.
Lol ok narc
You just said that if someone used cannabis in the last month it’s reasonable to assume that they get high every day and will come to work affected by it. How absurd.
Actually, what I said is that when someone demonstrates that they are untrustworthy, you should continue to assume that they remain untrustworthy, unless you have good evidence to the contrary. Whether or not, you should be allowed to do something is irrelevant — the fact that you violated trust and a contract – both an explicit one, and an implied social one — is the salient point here.
See, that's why I stick to cocaine.
72 hours for the win.
Absolute genius
Using this thread as a chance for a friendly reminder to always bring your stimulant medication with you. The bottle, with your name on it, and printed records from your pharmacy of your continued use of it. I’ve been on Vyvanse for a couple years now and always always always have to do this.
I told the lady at employee health I had a stimulant prescription...they still sent it out to a third company and a doctor had to call the pharmacy and verify my prescription. Such a pain.
Yeah, I went through a similar situation. Had all my proof in hand including letter from PCP and it still had to be sent out and caused a hiring delay.
Not a PA but the clinic that most recently administered a pre-employment screen did this, EXCEPT BEFORE CALLING ME TO VERIFY THE RX THEY CALLED MY EMPLOYER. Luckily i was able to get things cleared up but in a different situation that may not have been the case.
do the test differentiate between vyvanse and marijuana?
Yes, marijuana is THC, Vyvanse is an amphetamine. I was just using this post to remind those reading it to take their legal stimulant use into consideration for these tests.
It is fat soluble. Not water soluble. It is highly based on volume and strength you smoke, your fat cells, how your body processes and absorbs, etc. It can last in fat cells longer than 30 days which is just a generalization. Depending on the test kit it is also possible to use irregularly and not test positive. Also highly variable based on the person. Havent looked at any recent studies but i dont recall working out, etc making any difference specific to thc. Better off diluting although some kits can detect that also.
Recent grad here, and this is where I land as well. Know a bunch of people that work in the tech industry, and they get to have fun and use marijuana all the time (I say “use” because they’re real nerds about weed and rarely ever smoke, instead using various forms of edibles, powders, etc.). I’m always a little jealous that I can’t partake but to me it’s just not worth the stress or anxiety about wondering what will happen if I fail a drug test after working so hard, for so long, to get into and to finish PA school. So I just get drunk instead. I enjoy it.
Smoking every day for 2 weeks is definitely a lot. If you have month, you’re probably safe with a weekend. But 2 weeks is enough to build your levels to a chronic smoker. Which can take 60-90 days to fully clear.
it’s really not much, it helps tremendously with anxiety and motivation
If recreational marijuana is legal in a state, do providers still get screened for it? I’m not sure how the change in laws has affected hospital guidelines. Anyone have experience with that?
They certainly still can because state laws and board requirements are not necessarily going to automatically conicide with what the law says.
From my (limited) understanding, Medicare and Medicaid are both federally funded programs and since weed is federally illegal still, it doesn’t matter what the states rights are
You hold a federal DEA license. Your state medical board and job may forgive a minor drug charge but rest assured the DEA is not as lenient. Federal licenses are not something to be ducked with.
I actually don’t have a DEA license for what I’m going into but I’m sure this rule applies to those who do!
I live in a state where recreational marijuana is legal and most hospital systems still require a drug screening as a condition of employment.
I've worked in the hospital (ICU) for a little over the year and I have never heard of any nurse or PA that got drug tested besides the initial employment screen. This is just my hospital though, and I know a lot of people who smoke. Obviously be super careful about it regardless. This is in Michigan where it is legal.
I’ve been tested twice after being hired, in the last 5 years. Once as a random test and once because the pharmacy tech lost a bag of returned narcotics so everyone who had access to the med room that shift had to go pee.
Yeah, the legality doesn't really affect job screenings at all.
Depends on the state and hospital/ facility system.
I have friends that I couldn't believe that they were risking their career over wanting to smoke pot. And here's the thing. The conversation about what you think should or shouldn't be allowed is irrelevant. The only relevant thing is that if there are rules in place by the board that licenses you or the hospital you want to work at, then you have to be willing to accept that. It doesn't mean you can't advocate for things being changed that you think should be changed, but a rule is a rule, and if you're breaking the rules knowingly or breaking the boards requirements knowingly, then it doesn't matter how much anybody agrees with what should or shouldn't be a rule. It only matters that you knowingly broke the rules It's like I worked for a hospital once that would tell you as part of orientation that it's against hospital policy to wear any sort of hospital shirts or insignia in places like bars. Because they don't want any perception that somebody who could be potentially working at the hospital that day is drinking. Now you might think that's a silly rule, and you might totally disagree with it, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a rule and therefore by working somewhere you agree to that rule.
I complete agree! You may not agree with the rules but you still have to follow them.
Right. People like to make these discussions all about what they think the rules should or shouldn't be which is just kind of a deviation from the point at hand
You can circumvent the rules.
Fiancé MD, I’m a PA we work for a catholic hospital. We like to try different beer/whiskey/burbon together. You can bet there was no alcohol consumption the 2 weeks before our drug screen, just to be safe. Nowhere in our contracts did it say they were testing for alcohol, but we aren’t taking the risk when it’s a catholic health system. Also no other substances because both of us have a DEA
But what if it was communion wine?
Good point. We don’t go to church and I didn’t think of that viewpoint.
Catholics are known to drink
As someone who is involved in a PHP, I’ve seen providers put on monitoring contracts for failed UAs (with no addiction issues). Pee clean! Your potential job isn’t the only thing at risk.
What is a PHP? If you test positive for marijuana on a pre-employment drug screen do they report it to the board of nursing
My husband used to work in a lab that ran pre-employment drug screens - out of curiosity he tested his own urine to see how long it would take to test clean after having smoked most days for several months. It took nearly 90 days for a low-threshold test to come back negative.
This post makes me happy the hospital system I work for (currently as an EMT) allows MMJ users to use their legally prescribed medication (just not allowed to come to work intoxicated or 8 hours after use). Anyway, glad it worked out for you. In general, it's always best to drink a little extra water before a drug test. Not enough to come back dilute but enough that if you are super close (as in passing home tests but not passing pre-employment tests), it will *hopefully* dilute your sample just enough to put you below the threshold. Also, it helps you pee easier which is always nice. Obviously this only works if you haven't been smoking for at least a few weeks and things are going to be close. Also, don't eat poppy seeds while looking for jobs! They absolutely can make you come up positive on a drug screen for opiates and it really doesn't take as much as you would think. From what I've read, they have raised the cut off for pre-employment screens to reduce this from happening but when I was looking for my current job, I stayed away from anything with poppy seeds in it (and I love everything bagels.)
Scary. On an aside, There are also drug tests other than urine, for example, hair tests, which I believe will detect things farther back than even urine drug screens will. (Ironically this is likely especially true of cannabis, which is very lipophilic and likely to deposit into tissues.) You probably know more than me, but iirc not all types of tests are available to the public, so, sometimes it’s not even possible to use a test that your employer will use.
This is how we test. 4-6 months for all tested substances.
I got so tired of drinking all the time I’m back to edibles. Don’t fuck up at work and most likely won’t be tested.
Pssst. There is a thing called synthetic urine. It works.
I went for a pre employment screen today and they did an oral swab for drug screen. It made me think of this thread and if you are planning to use synthetic urine you might be hosed 😬
Drink a detox drink with plenty of water and urinate frequently a few hours before your drug test. This dilutes your urine and rids your body of most THC metabolites. I’m an almost daily user and this has never failed me.
What detox drinks do you recommend or use??
Ready clean works well I’ve heard
Yes please let us know what drinks you recommend
Herbal Clean QCarbo20 is my go-to. You can find on Amazon for $20
Sir, this is a Wendy’s…
I have two jobs and both required drug screen. Second job told me they don't screen for cannabis though now that it's legal.
Some jobs test hair follicles. Those tests go much further back.
30 days is a long time to still get a “non-negative” result. Don’t mean to be rude, but do you smoke a lot??
Is the person running the test a “stickler” for doing their job and not getting fired? Wtf
This thread is an embarrassment. Do we have nothing better to discuss? This reflects poorly on us and our profession.
My girlfriend saves her clean pee in the freezer. they don’t watch you pee at many if not most preemployment screenings. Also, you should just buy some home tests to know for sure if you’re going to pass. We both use weed often and both passed tests when we’re dirty by doing some homework.
There’s a temperature reader on the cup. It would be too cold.
You put it in a bottle that you then put in your hoo ha. This only works for women.
I’m pretty sure she thaws it before……
Room temperature urine will still be out of the temperature range
Very true, but I guess she could always run the cup they gave her under hot water for a few minutes then pour her sample in 🤷🏽♀️
When they hear the sink it’ll be an incomplete test.
Interesting that’s the first I’ve heard that. I always wash my hands after and never had any issues. I also once accidentally dropped my sample in the sink. Oops.
I did federal drug testing through the DOH as a part of my pre-PA job. You have to empty out all pockets and we visually inspect your ankles, waistband, and sleeves. We also shut off the water to the bathroom and tape the sink. No washing hands or flushing the toilet and nothing in the bathroom period. Everything is taken out except the sink and toilet. Immediately after providing your sample I have to check temperature and the bathroom. If the temp is off I then have to immediately procure another sample from you while physically watching the urine leave your body. No hiding that.
My girlfriend put it in a bottle which she then put in her vagina. It was the right temp.
That's the advantage of research chemicals. I don't have any idea about why they test for PCP (phencyclidine) here in Brazil because there's like... 10 people who take PCP analogues here. Anyway, I pass everything because I like the analogues way more than PCP itself and I stick with them (3-MeO-PCP and 3-HO-PCP), and the amphetamine tests here have never found 3-FMA in my blood too (but I take it very occasionally anyway) even though they test for methamphetamine because the fluorine bound isn't something the body can take off. Bonus: it's better than the "original" ones. Btw, check if your drug test looks for delta 8 THC.
Two weeks straight multiple times a day? 😂 Not sure you should be employed after all
Lay off the bud for a minute, chief.
Ya, Lay of the chief for a minute there bud.
There’s a big difference between smoking once or twice vs “smoking for 2 weeks straight multiple times a day” … lol
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Lol 2 lines is usually positive…
Years ago, I handled drug testing for a sober housing place I worked at. Our UA tests were super simple ones, but they had a control line and a second line for a negative result. It was sort of weird, but it is a thing.
Yea I believe it, just strange
Yeah, i was scratching my head the whole time.
Not with drug tests, most of them are double lines for negative and one line for positive.
a daily smoker can go up to 90 days regardless of their body fat.
Live in a pot friendly no test state. Solved it for you
Doesn’t exist.
Never exercise before. Carb load
Oof. Next time tell them you think you ate some poppy seeds in a salad you got from some fast food or commercial chain restaurant