'Faking It' Products being used to 'pass' drug tests

With drug testing and pre-employment medical screening becoming more commonplace in workplaces in Australia, especially within heavy industry as well as by police on roadside stops, a cottage industry has sprung up around products which assist users to 'pass' drug tests.

With names like 'Pass It', 'Ultimate Detox' and the like, products that are now being manufactured and sold online and in shops locally, with the express purpose to help consumers 'pass' drug tests.

How did this become a phenomenon? What is in these products? Do they actually work? We at Drug Test Australia took a closer look at the situation....

Products

The most common of these types of products found were 'Detox Drinks', not to be confused with health food stores' fruit-based products, these drinks are purported to 'cleanse' and 'remove unwanted substances from the urine', with some claiming to work in just one hour.

                                                              

The other main type of masking agents are 'Synthetic Urine', which is touted as 'premixed laboratory urine' which is purported to 'contain all the ingredients normally found in urine and is balanced for pH, specific gravity, creatinine, and several other urine characteristics.' These products are meant to be used in place of urine in urine tests.

Detox drinks main aim is to 'clean out' the system, with a goal of 'flushing out' drug metabolites from the system before they can be detected in a urine drug test.

The other type of these drinks aims to 'hold drug metabolites' in the body, allowing urine to pass through to testing without these metabolites present in the sample.



Synthetic urine products are meant to be carried by the user on their person before a drug test, so that they can pretend to urinate, while filling the test with synthetic urine. These are used with 'heat pads' to bring the sample up to body temperature, a key indicator in all effective urine drug test kits. The pads are meant to be worn under the clothes, to heat the bottle of synthetic urine.


While the above products aim to mask drug use in urine tests, interestingly, there are also now products available which claim to help the user pass a saliva drug test. These products come in the form of a mouth wash, which claims to leave 'no traces of unwanted residues' in the saliva. It claims to be effective for removing residue of Marijuana, Cocaine, Opiates, Methamphetamine, Amphetamines and prescription drugs.



Two other items worthy of note are shampoo's available, that tout being effective in 'passing' hair follicle drug tests, and urine additives.

                                                           
Hair follicle testing being a new and not very widely used technology in drug testing in Australia, takes a sample hair follicle for the test. This testing has been shown to detect drugs in the system up to 90 days.

Urine additives are purported to 'destroy drug metabolites in urine', the product claims to 'change the molecular structure' of the compound, and is poured straight into a urine sample, to 'fool' GC/MS (Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the instrument used to test samples in a laboratory, as with confirmation samples following a positive test result).

Availability

These products are available from online stores in Australia, as well as retail locations around the country. Their disclaimer is usually "not intended for use on lawfully administered drug tests and is to be used in accordance with all federal and state laws."

Detox drinks retails for around AUD $50-$60, synthetic urine at $70-$80, with the mouthwash at around $50.


Effectiveness

By looking at a wide variety of the types of products on the market, we can examine which would most effective.

Saliva testing

Saliva testing aims to pick up residue of drugs in the oral fluid. Commonly a mouth swab is inserted, and oral fluid collected from the inside of the mouth, cheeks and tongue. The approximate detection time for oral fluid varies with drug classes, but is typically a 6-12 hour window (if drugs were consumed in this period the test will show). Tests with positive results are to be sent fro confirmation testing using GC-MS.

The product intended to remove and 'mask' drug residue in the mouth, a mouth wash, if used correctly and if containing a high alcohol solution, could in theory 'pass' a drug test.

The problem is; that when an individual is selected for a random test, usually there is no time to swill and rinse with mouth wash, which would be quite obvious to all involved, rendering this product ineffective.

Urine Testing

Urine testing is based on based on immunoassay rapid test methods, and also relies on GC-MS fro confirmation of positive samples. The detection period varies between drug classes, and can be up to 30 days for THC in heavy users.

Synthetic Urine is effective in passing a drug test, provided that adulterants are not detected by the device (many have built in) and the temperature is correct. So if a subject is willing to place a large bottle of fake urine and a heating element down their pants, heat the urine to body temp, and pour it into the test without being detected by the drug tester, then they may pass this time.

Current Situation

Currently in Australia there are employees using these products to attempt to 'pass' drug tests. These products are easily available for purchase from retailers locally or for home delivery from online stores.

Drug testing training courses now include sections on identifying and preventing adulteration of tests by  test subjects. Also, any tester that is drug testing regularly, and keenly observes their surrounds should be able to catch these cheaters.

Even if an individual passes the test once, they will be caught the second or third time they attempt to use these methods. These are not by any means fool-proof methods, and the consequences for employees faking a test can be severe.

Random selection testing (drug testing a random sample of the employee body) as well as reasonable suspicion testing (drug testing after reasonable suspicion that an employee is impaired by drugs) will eventually 'catch' these employees, who will then have to face discipline within the organisation, or in the case of pre-employment tests, will never be offered a position in the company again.

We should be aware of these products on the market, and take appropriate measures to ensure they do not affect test results.

For more information on this or related issues, or to find out about our Australian Standard testing equipment contact us at Drug Test Australia;

Email; sales@drugtestaustralia.com.au
Website; drugtestaustralia.com.au
Phone; 1300 660 636