Irecently opened a Snapchat from my best friend informing me that she had been fired from her job because she failed a drug test.
Jasmine does not do drugs — her idea of a wild night includes catching up on “Jane the Virgin” while sipping Moscato. I started to panic, thinking, “My best friend has totally gone off the deep end.” Some form of telepathy must have kicked in, because seconds later, I received a text assuring me everything was okay.
The job loss wasn’t a tragedy: Jasmine was already planning to submit her two weeks notice. We spent the next few minutes laughing about how dumb it was that she lost her job because of a poppy seed (during the harvesting process, poppy seeds absorb opium extract, which can cause your pee to test positive for morphine). After we hung up, I started to wonder: How long does it take before a drug is out of your system?
According to the US Anti-Doping Agency, it can take up to 48 hours for drugs like morphine and codeine to pass through your system. But what about marijuana? It seems like all the cool kids are doobie-ing it up these days.
Green Rush Daily explains that the most common way for an employer to track your marijuana usage is through a urine test. These tests don’t detect THC (the ingredient in weed that makes makes you feel high). Instead, urine tests look for THC-COOH, a derivative chemical your body produces after smoking or ingesting weed. THC-COOH stays in your system longer than THC, which explains why you might fail a drug test, even weeks after a smoke session.
The more you smoke, the longer it takes for marijuana to completely exit your body. Here’s a quick breakdown:
First time smokers usually test positive for marijuana for five to eight days after using.
If you smoke two to four times in a week, THC-COOH will remain in your urine for approximately 11–18 days.
Smokers that get high five to six times a week will test positive for over a month after smoking.
If you smoke weed every day, THC-COOH can remain in your urine for up to 77 days.
Some weed enthusiasts claim that drinking water and cranberry juice can help you pass a drug test. Unfortunately, consuming too many fluids can dilute your urine, which may compromise your test results.
Sorry, marijuana lovers; it’s hard to outsmart science. Even the best employees can be brought down by a poorly timed drug test. When it comes to your weed (and poppy seed) use, tread lightly.
Sometimes it can be good to detox a bit and flush marijuana out of your system, and sometimes you have no choice because you really want that job you applied for and you know you’re going to be drug tested. Life’s rough, man. But although THC only stays in your system for a week, seven days exactly, passing a drug test can be more of a challenge for heavier smokers. However, there are ways to help you clean out your system, and it’s a good idea to brush up on the best ways to rid yourself of THC metabolites.
What are THC metabolites and what are drug screens looking for?
Drug test screenings typically involve testing your urine for metabolites.
Now what are metabolites? I’m so glad you asked. Metabolites are a side effect of a substance after its already been processed by your body. In this case, the guys in the white coats are going to be looking out for the THC metabolites in your system, or in more scientific terms, THC-COOH.
In order to know if you are ready for a drug test, you need to be able to figure out the amount of THC metabolites in your system and also know what the testing levels are for your drug screen. I know this sounds complicated but I’ll explain a bit further.
How long does marijuana stay in your system?
The half-life of THC metabolites is seven days. This means that every seven days, the amount of metabolites in your body will decrease by 50%. With this in mind, it can be assumed that your body will be rid of THC metabolites in about 3-4 weeks. However, it’s super important to note that these numbers can also depend on how much you smoke, how often you smoke, and how much you weigh.
Since THC is a fat soluble, which is why cannabis is great for deliciously fattening edibles, it can easily be stored in your fatty lipid tissue. As a result of this, your fat cells will release the THC metabolites into your bloodstream at a continuous rate, which is certainly not a good thing.
But guess what? You can still pass a drug test without being 100% free of THC metabolites. Since you still need your levels to be below the minimum amount of metabolites for the test, with a typical threshold being 50 mg/mL (whatever that means,) your test results will be negative and you’ll be home free!
Now I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “I don’t care about THC metabolites! I just want to know how to pass a drug test!” Chill out because I’m about lay down the facts.
How to pass a drug test
The basic method for passing a drug test is to dilute your urine just enough where, as I mentioned before, your levels will fall below the 50ng/ML limit.
There’s only one problem with that, though. The men in the white coats are keeping an eye out for fully diluted urine. Seriously, they know what you’re up to… With this in mind, you need to not only dilute your urine but to also cover up the fact that your urine is diluted. Ugh, talk about a catch-22.
So now you’re kind of annoyed because this kind of seems impossible? However, there are ways to mask diluted urine.
How to cover up diluted urine
There are several ways to dilute your urine. Hooray!
Let’s begin with water. Water is great for flushing out your system, but you shouldn’t feel the need to start chugging water weeks or days before your drug test. This only dilutes your urine for the time being so it’s pretty much a waste of time.
You’re better off drinking 3-4 liters of water throughout the day before you take your test, and then about 1.5-2 liters several hours before you leave to take your test. It’s important to know your limits, and really you should only be drinking a maximum of 2 liters. Note: drinking too much water can result in death, and that’s not the way you want to go out. Trust me.
After drinking a lot of water, your urine will be colorless and have low amounts of creatine. This is good, no? Eh, not so much.
By having colorless urine as well as low levels of creatine, the men in the white coats can easily see that you are trying waaay too hard to clean out your system, and we don’t want any of that.
How to do all of this and STILL pass your drug test
There are two important substances that can still help you pull off this whole shebang– Vitamin B and creatine.
Vitamin B is important to take because it makes your urine yellow, therefore the men in the white coats won’t become suspicious. The most effective form of Vitamin B is either Vitamin B-2 or Vitamin B-12. It is recommended that you take 50-100 mg several hours before taking your drug test.
In addition to Vitamin B, creatine supplements can also help. Creatine, which is a chemical waste product that is already naturally in your body, can help the men in the white coats determine whether your urine is diluted or not.
Since creatine only has a half-life of three hours, you should take an above-average dose several hours before your test. You can find creatine supplements from any health food store, and as soon as creatine is broken down by your body, it will be completely flushed out of your system. Sweet.
But that’s not all folks. There are more ways to further guarantee that your system will be flushed of THC metabolites.
More tips for passing your drug test
Number one:Avoid exercise for at least 24 hours before your test. For some of us, this isn’t too hard to accomplish since exercise and the word “avoid” often go hand in hand. But for all you gym rats out there, it’s best to avoid exercising because working out will only cause your THC metabolite levels to shoot up, and again, we don’t want any of that.
Number two: When you’re peeing into the cup, you should only provide the urine from the ‘middle’ of your urine stream. This is important to note because the first and last parts of your urine stream have the highest amounts of those evil metabolites.
Number three: Get your hands on some detox drinks. Detox drinks can be helpful but they only help to dilute your urine, which as we know, isn’t enough to pass your test. However, detox drinks also contain Vitamin B, as well as creatine, which also helps to hide the fact that your urine is diluted. Detox drinks, while convenient, can be a bit pricy, so keep that in mind as well.
I will leave you with a few notes. If you are a regular smoker or have a high level of fat, dilution may not be as effective and it may take longer to flush out your system. If this is the case, you can use the urine of a non-smoker but that’s on you if you choose to go down that road. Just know your facts and you should be just fine. Good luck!
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