Drug addiction is the chronic brain disease rather than a moral issue. Drug addiction is similar to that of other chronic disease such as diabetes, asthma, kidney failure and hypertension. Drug addiction alters the activity of the brain and brings about the changes that last forever. Hence drug addiction is called as chronic brain disease. Brain consists of network of nerves where it provides signals for each and every action produced by the body. The main parts of brain affected by the drug addiction are the cortex, limbic region and hippocampus. The resulting distorted brain insists to do illegal things and get addicted to the drug. (more…)

PCP or phencyclidine which was earlier used as an anesthetic agent has now been replaced by newer drugs. But it still rules the cartel mechanism as it has potent stimulatory and hallucinogenic properties. It is used for the purpose of recreation especially in parties, etc. One of the characteristic effects which it produces is disassociation. By this effect, the person seems to lose contact with his body and the whole surroundings by blocking the action of glutamate on its receptor. (more…)

Birth control pills are used to prevent pregnancy. On the whole birth control pills are two types, a combination pill and mini pill. The modes of action of both the pills are similar. The main components in the combination pill are the progesterone and estrogen which have combined action. The mini pills consist of only the progesterone. Habitual consumption of these pills develops adverse side effects. Similar to other medications birth pill also develops certain side effects. Prescription is based on the factors such as age, weight, physical health and gynecological history. Consumption of pills on the advice of gynecologist will be better because side effects will be reduced. Certain women who show allergic reaction towards estrogen can avoid combination pill. (more…)

Medications are not at risk until they are used legally. Sometimes the prescribed medications are misused so that the patient becomes addicted to that drug developing a high risk to the health. Particularly women become addicted to the prescribed medication more quickly. The mostly misused prescribed medications are Opoids, central nervous system depressants and stimulants. These types of medications are prescribed for the pain relief, anxiety and for obesity and sleeping disorder respectively. However in USA the addiction to prescribed drug is uncommon. (more…)

Morphine is natural opium which occurs as white crystals or white powder and has bitter taste and alkaline reactions. When orally ingested, it is well absorbed by the intestines and this first pass metabolism is bypassed if morphine is injected and the time interval between the intake of drug and the appearance of drug in blood is very minimal. Still urine remains to be the most effective specimen for the testing the presence of morphine in the body. But it can also be recovered from blood and bile. (more…)

Of all the forms of addiction, the worst is smoking. It affects people both on the active and passive smoking and is the major etiological agent for a large number of cancers and also has an unbreakable relationship with the lung pathologies. (more…)

Codeine is natural opium obtained from poppy seeds. It is mainly used therapeutically in cough medications by virtue of its property of depressing all centers except oculomotor, vomiting and sweating. It is a peripherally acting analgesic. It stimulates the propulsive activity of the intestine. One important indication for abuse for codeine is that it acts synergistically with alcohol and barbiturates. (more…)

Drug testing is done by a number of employers for screening their employees. The most commonly used sample is the urine. The collection of urine is relatively simple. Though you need to provide a rest room for the procedure, yet it is purely a non invasive process. The process of drug testing is also very simple. One important thing that needs to be noted when it comes to drug testing is the detection period of drugs is what companies drug test tend to focus on. It is essentially the time interval during which the drug can be detected. When the donor is being tested it is important to check for the probable abuse before the metabolic phase of the drug is complete eventually leading to flushing out after the detection period.

Every drug that is taken inside the body appears in blood after crossing its site of absorption, then it acts on its site of action after circulating for sometime and then gets metabolized and finally disappears from blood. This time of disappearance is called the half life of the drug. After its metabolism, the drug or its metabolite is excreted in urine. Then it can be detected in urine for sometime till it gets completely excreted and can not be detected. This detection period for drugs is different for each drug or to broadly say for each class of drugs involved in drug testing in jobs of fortune 500 companies drug testing and in all employee drug testing companies.

A thorough knowledge is essential about these detection periods to detect the drug accurately. If you want to detect drugs listed in the SAMHSA stand 5 panel drug testing, then you need only 2 days to get the results. Drugs that have shorter duration of detection denote more of recent ingestion than the drugs that have longer detection periods.

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Suggested Reading:
Drug testing for employee
Post-Incident Drug Testing In Work Place Accidents
Pre employment drug testing – Urine Drug Testing
Effects Of Drugs In The Work Place
Harms Of Hiring Drug Addicts In Work Place
How Drug Addiction Affects Work – Work Place Drug Testing

Drug testing is in various formats. One of the most effective ways to test for drugs is to do a random drug testing for drugs. It is used in a number of ways. It can be used by schools to screen their students, in corporations, in defence, in prisons, borstals, fire departments, government institutions, law enforcement agencies etc. Another important use of this drug testing is done on teens by their parents especially when they doubt that their teens are addicted to any of the drugs of abuse.

Random drug testing is the testing of drugs in any group or groups without any prior planning. It tests for the presence of a number of drugs in the body. The person who has to be tested is drawn using a random assigning of numbers.

Random drug testing is one of the most attractive ways to combat illicit drug abuse among teens. This makes it more popular among parents and teachers especially of the teens who are put up in boarding schools. It is reported in the British journal of general practice that around three-fourths of the schools in UK have some sort of drug and alcohol abuse.

Another important use of random drug testing is the testing of the employees drawing random numbers. Though few experts say that it is a breach in the privacy of any individual yet random drug testing has been very effective in controlling the abuse of drugs and has helped in maintaining a healthy workforce.

Random drug testing is mainly done with standard urine drug test kit or Oratect oral screening products. Marijuana oratect swab test is reported to show up top positives. Specimen validity testing is also important in random testing, because there are donors who tend to donate artificial sample even during random testing process.

Related Links:
employment drug testing
random drug testing
breathalyzer

Suggested Reading:
Goodness of a drug free work place
Drug testing for employee
Post-Incident Drug Testing In Work Place Accidents
Effects Of Drugs In The Work Place
Harms Of Hiring Drug Addicts In Work Place
How Drug Addiction Affects Work – Work Place Drug Testing

Pre employment drug testing is the most effective screening tool employed by the employers for the selection of the appropriate candidates for their company. It is a proven fact that long term usage of drugs and alcohol affects the higher centers of learning in brain leading to decreased responsiveness, poor concentration, lack of orientation, poor coordination and above all, the incidence of work place accidents are more among the people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. It is for this reason that employers want to screen the candidates for drug abuse. (more…)