Drug testing can be done in various tissues and body fluids which depend on the ability of the drug to concentrate in various areas of the body. The most common routes of drug testing are blood tests, urine tests, saliva and oral fluid tests, hair follicle test and sweat. Different drugs have different ways of expressing themselves in one of the following ways. Every mode of drug testing has their own significance for which hair follicles are no exception. Drug follicle hair screen is routinely done to assess the status of certain drugs in the body.
The greatest advantage of drug follicle hair screening is that you can detect drugs that were taken in nearly 3 months or sometimes 6 months before. Every drug has its own half life which is the time taken by the drug to reach half of its initial concentration. After which it is actively metabolized by the mixed function oxidize system in the liver and filtered in the kidneys and excreted. It is because of this that it is difficult to detect the drug in the blood and urine samples after they have been excreted.
But this is not the case with hair follicle testing where the drug can be retained in the follicles for very long periods depending on the rate of hair growth. The heartening facts regarding drug hair info test is that hair from any part of the body can be efficiently used and even if the hairs are completely shaven or removed, the hair follicles can be used for drug testing. There are various standards laid that specify the length of the hair strand required, the number of hair required, the components to be tested, the procedures to be adopted ,etc. All these are regulated by the SAMHSA or Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or the CLIA.
The drug test hair analysis must keep in mind regarding the time taken by the various drugs to reach the hair follicle and the time taken by individual drug to leave the follicles. While cocaine, morphine, cotinine, heroin are present for 3 months, codeine stays for only up to 30 hours. LSD can stay for 3 days in the hair follicles whereas alcohol can be detected for the life time of the hair.
The drug testing kit hair is quite different from the urine analysis and blood testing devices. The availability of hair samples is another factor to be kept in mind while doing hair follicle drug testing.
Suggested Reading:
What is the procedure to test for drug abuse with hair?
Hair Samples Are Analyzed Chemically In Hair Alcohol Testing
Drug Testing Methodologies – Urine And Hair Test Methods
Hair Follicle Test
Hair Drug Test
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