Buying a drug test kit from the experts
Buying a drug test kit for marijuana, opiates, amphetamines, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
The first thing you need to know is how many panels you need on the device. Using a five-panel device, for instance, you can analyze five drugs simultaneously each panel analyzes a specific drug. The results are displayed on the face of the product. Each brand is slightly different but it will only take a few minutes to familiarize yourself. Using this kind of device is a sure way to detect the most commonly abused drugs.
Many different drugs can be screened in this way; these may include benzodiazepines, barbiturates, fentanyl, ecstasy, and oxycodone. There are over sixteen drugs that can be analyzed in this way, here is the list of panels to help you decide, but before buying a drug test for use at home read our post on testing family members. Here is a complete list of drugs that can be screened.
Analyzing with different drug test panels.
Before buying a drug test kit, do your research, get the product that detects the drugs you are concerned about, and one that identifies the right drugs. If you are not sure, our tip is to buy a test that has more panels than you need because often, abusers take more than one substance or may even switch to another if they think you are on to them. Finally, before you perform the analysis, read the product instructions thoroughly to make sure you understand the process and how to use it properly.
Here are some of the reasons you may want to test for drugs of abuse.
- Family peace of mind.
- For periodic testing or random testing,
- Reasonable suspicion, which includes unusual behavior, paraphernalia found, or monitoring rehabilitation,
- Post-accident, return to work, and for pre-employment.
Guidelines to help parents test their loved ones for drugs of abuse
Before buying a drug test kit, read our guide on how to use an at home drug test kit
○ Your guide for the best result.
- Remove the device from the sealed wrapper, and place it on a flat surface.
- Ask the person to be tested (donor) to provide a minimum of 30 ml of urine into a cup.
- It is a good idea to check the temperature of the urine as donors have been known to provide fake or substitute samples.
- Check that the sample temperature is within 93 to 98°F. If it’s not, don’t accept it and ask the donor to provide a new sample. Remember to recheck the temperature.
- Check that the sample has an odor, also observe the color of the sample.
- If you are satisfied that the sample is satisfactory, then proceed with the analysis.
○ Procedure for using a dip card.
- Remove the cap from the device and immerse the tips into the urine for 20 seconds.
- Remove from the urine and replace the cap, and lay on a flat surface. NOTE. Only immerse the tips, not the whole device into the urine
- Wait for the results to appear.
○ Procedure for using a cup test.
- For cups, the process is slightly different and depends to some extent on the brand. In this example, we will use the EliteScreen Eco Cup.
- Unscrew the cup lid and place it to one side
- Ask the donor to provide a sample of urine to the level marked on the cup.
- Check the temperature is in range; 93 to 98°F. Once confirmed, reattach the lid and wait for 3 minutes
- Now remove the label from the face of the cup.
- Within a few minutes, the results will appear. You will start to see colored bars appear in the window.
- Within five minutes, the results will have fully developed.
○ Interpretation.
- Invalid: no lines appear or the (C) control bar is not present.
- Negative: two bars appear, one (C) and one (T).
- Presumed positive: control bar (C) is visible but the test bar (T) is not apparent.
In the case of a presumed positive, the urine sample should be packaged and sent to a SAMSHA approved laboratory; this is important as the sample needs to be confirmed. The confirmation will quantify the drug(s) found. The values can be used as a reference to compare against future test results.
We hope that this article has given you some insight on buying a drug test kit.
Visit these two sites: https://www.drugabuse.gov, and NIDA for more information.