Illicit and prescription drug abuse in the United States has reached an all-time high. At the same time, court systems, employers, and healthcare providers require drug tests. But it can be challenging to determine how long a substance stays in the body.
Several factors will determine this, including the frequency and amount of use and the user's body mass. While some substances can be detected for only a brief duration, others portray extended drug detection periods.
The respective durations will determine the specific drug testing windows set by those who wish to test themselves or others.
What Are Drug Detection Windows?
Drug detection windows are estimated periods when one can test and detect drug compounds and metabolites in tissues and bodily fluids above the cut-off levels. These cut-offs are standardized in the US as determined in DOT Rule 49 CFR Part 40 Section 40.87.
Saliva and urine tests are used to establish this, but other onsite drug test options include blood and hair tests.
It's almost impossible to ascertain how long a substance remains detectable in the body because several factors determine how a person metabolizes drugs. These include:
- The drug's half-life – Drugs have different half-lives. Some stay in the system several minutes or hours after use, while others last days or even weeks.
- Body mass and hydration – Physical activity, body mass, and hydration levels also determine how long substances will be detectable. Someone with a bigger body mass will likely exhibit a longer detection time because more drugs and metabolites accumulate in their tissues.
- Metabolism – This refers to how your liver and kidneys process substances. More efficient organs will process and eliminate substances faster.
- Age – A person's age and metabolism go hand in hand. Generally, the older someone gets, the less efficient their liver and kidneys will be in processing alcohol or drugs. Therefore, the substances will linger in your body longer as you mature.
- Body fat percentage – Lipid-soluble substances like THC can bind to body fat, slowing their processing time. Women are generally fattier than men, hence tend to process alcohol and drugs more slowly than their male counterparts.
- Tolerance – Someone who's been using a particular drug for a long time will have a more extended drug detection window than the one who recently used it.
- Drug purity – This may seem obvious, but manufacturers and dealers increasingly include cheap synthetics like K2/Spice and fentanyl into common club drugs. Therefore, substance purity becomes a vital consideration for anyone curious about how long the elements last in the body.
- Test type – The type of test also matters. Those relying on saliva or blood typically have a briefer window than urine-based ones. On the other hand, hair follicle tests have the most extended substance detection window, spanning months after the last consumption.
What's a Drug's Half-Life?
In essence, this is the duration required for the quantity of a drug's active substance in a person's system to reduce by 50 percent. This will depend on how the user's body processes and eliminates the drug and may vary from several hours to days or weeks. No matter how long you've been using the substance or the dosage you're on, its half-life is always constant.
Generally, a shorter half-life leads to added withdrawal issues, while a longer one translates to fewer withdrawal complications.
So if you've been using a short half-life drug and are experiencing withdrawal problems, it's better to shift to another similar substance but with a longer half-life. This makes it easier to come off the drug problem.
A drug's half-life also determines the duration a substance requires to stabilize upon its first use. Generally, it'll take five times the standard half-life to attain a stable level in the system. Once the level stabilizes, the drug's side effects may reduce.
Notably, a drug's half-life isn't a specific figure and may vary between users.
An Overview of Detection Windows for Common Drug Categories
So, how long do the different drugs and substances stay in your system? Let's take a deep dive into the detection windows for the most common drugs:
Alcohol
Alcohol takes a relatively short time in your system. Generally, hair follicle tests can effectively detect consumption for up to 90 days. But this test doesn't offer the required precision for most cases. Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is among the most common tests. It uses an ethyl alcohol metabolite to extend the urine test detection window from about 12 hours to between three and five days.
The average alcohol detection windows are:
- Saliva drug test – Six to twelve hours
- Urine drug test – Three to five days with EtG, and ten to twelve hours traditional
Marijuana
Marijuana, cannabis, or weed, is the dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant. It's among the most common recreational drugs, and about 55 million Americans use it. However, the mind-altering psychoactive compound THC may not be appreciated in some workplaces and surroundings.
Weed's detection periods are:
- Saliva – 24-72 hours
- Urine – Three to 30 days
Notably, the detection window for edibles may be different from inhaled cannabis.
Stimulants
Stimulants are a broad scope of drugs comprising both prescription and illicit substances. While physicians may prescribe most of them for medical reasons, they can be recreationally misused.
Here are some common examples and their respective detection windows:
Cocaine
- Saliva – One to two days
- Urine – One to three days
Meth
- Saliva – Up to four days
- Urine – Up to seven days
Adderall
- Saliva – 20-50 hours
- Urine – 48-72 hours
Ritalin
- Saliva – One to two days
- Urine – One to two days
Vyvanse
- Saliva – Up to 24 hours
- Urine – Up to three days
MDMA (Ecstasy, or Molly)
- Saliva – Up to two days
- Urine – Up to four days
Benzodiazepines
This category of drugs comprises the commonly prescribed sedatives for insomnia or anxiety. More and more adults are misusing these drugs; hence tests are typical.
Here's an overview of detection windows for the most commonly used Benzodiazepines:
Xanax
- Saliva – Up to 60 hours
- Urine – Up to five days
Klonopin
- Saliva – Five to six days
- Urine – Five days after one dose; up to two weeks after several doses
Valium
- Saliva – Up to ten days
- Urine – Up to six weeks
Ativan
- Saliva – Up to eight hours
- Urine – Six to ten days (even at minimal doses)
Librium
- Urine – Up to ten days
- Saliva – Up to 60 hours
Valium – Benzo
- Urine – Up to six weeks
- Saliva – Up to nine days
Opioids
Opioids half-life ranges from several minutes to approximately 36 hours. However, precise drug tests can detect the presence of drugs and their metabolites for much longer. While different tests exist, the CDC prefers that you use the urine drug test for most opioids:
Heroin
- Saliva – Up to 24 hours
- Urine – Up to 3 days
Morphine
- Saliva – Up to 3 days
- Urine – Up to 4 days
Oxycodone
- Saliva – Five to six days
- Urine – Five days after a single dose; up to two weeks after several doses
Tramadol
- Saliva – Up to 48 hours
- Urine – 24 to 72 hours
Hydrocodone
- Saliva – 12-36 hours
- Urine – Two to four days
Suboxone (Buprenorphine)
- Saliva – Three to eight days
- Urine – One hour to eight days
Methadone
- Urine – Two to four days
- Saliva – Up to 24 hours
Synthetic Opioids
Synthetic opioids have gained popularity due to their effective pain-killing capabilities. Physicians usually prescribe them to address severe, moderate, or mild pain. The potent and effective nature of these drugs led to the boom in prescriptions since the early 2000s.
Here are the most common synthetic opioids, their tests, and detection windows.
Fentanyl
- Saliva – Not used
- Urine – One to three days
Vicodin
- Saliva – 12 hours to three days
- Urine – Two to four days
Detection Windows for Other Common Drugs
Below is an additional list of the most commonly used drugs, their most effective tests, and each substance's respective detection windows.
Synthetic Marijuana (K2 or Spice)
Notably, the compounds "Spice" or "K2" change frequently to avoid detection. This can be a significant challenge to drug testing, but urine tests are more reliable when determining the substances' availability in the body.
Here are the respective tests and their detection windows:
- Saliva – Up to one hour
- Urine – Up to 72 hours
LSD
- Saliva – Eight to 16 hours
- Urine – Up to five days
Gabapentin
- Saliva – Not used
- Urine – Up to three days
Kratom
- Saliva – Not used
- Urine – Up to five and a half days
With more extended drug detection windows, the urine drug test can help investigate a person's historical drug consumption in the form of post-incident investigation or pre-employment testing. Saliva screening, on the other hand, is often effective when investigating recent substance use. Employers use it as the closest approach to determining whether the person in question is fit for work.
The above drug compound detecting windows in saliva and urine should be considered when searching for suitable drug testing supplies.
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