Many of you go through one of these before? How worried should my friend, who’s just a casual smoker, be if the last time he smoked a little weed was the middle of August? Test is next Tuesday.

Asking for a friend.

Middle of August? It depends on how casual of a smoker he is but I've heard at least 30 days to get out of your system. Doesn't sound like he's there yet.

Casual smoker like once every other weekend over the summer he would take a couple hits.

As one of my clients once said, "It has been months since I smoked a little weed. Don't ask how long it has been since I smoked a big pile of weed."

What kind of test. Urine is about a month. If they pull hair it can be something like a year. Toyota uses hair, or at least they used to.

(09-09-2021, 05:48 PM)Sled21 Wrote: What kind of test. Urine is about a month. If they pull hair it can be something like a year. Toyota uses hair, or at least they used to.

This is what I was going to write. Depends on the type of test. And how sensitive the test is. In general, the more expensive the test the more accurately they detect low levels of whatever they are testing for.

I'm assuming a urine test.  Don't know the specifics I guess.  

First off: Why do we still test for weed?

Secondly: Google "Head Shop in my area" and go buy a detoxifier, but don't tell them it's because you your friend is preparing for a urine test. 

(09-09-2021, 07:28 PM)bfine32 Wrote: First off: Why do we still test for weed?

Secondly: Google "Head Shop in my area" and go buy a detoxifier, but don't tell them it's because you your friend is preparing for a urine test. 

Masking agents are an automatic fail in most places, as are diluted samples

(09-09-2021, 09:44 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Masking agents are an automatic fail in most places, as are diluted samples

Diluted samples; although not automatic failures, especially in a random (pre employment) screening are usually identified by color. 

A detox does not mask; it dilutes while leaving the urine the natural (not like water) color.

If I were worried about popping hot in a pre-employment screening; it dilute with a detox. They are just looking for positive. 

Now if I were a targeted (on parole for drug use, ect..) I'd not do it

(09-09-2021, 04:54 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: Casual smoker like once every other weekend over the summer he would take a couple hits.

Eh, I don't want to tell your friend not to worry, but if he's telling you the truth about that degree of usage, I'd be only slightly worried unless "over the summer" means the literal definition ie still ongoing.  From what I've heard from test subjects, it's somewhat rare to get nailed for just taking a hit or two at isolated times, unless the isolated times were actually consistent intervals of light usage.  

There are also variables.  THC metabolites store in fat, so a leaner person would probably be a bit less likely to pop if the test was a week or two after usage.  

I'm not a researcher, but I can tell you something about my friend who had similar concerns.  This dude should have been nailed many times over, but somehow never was.  I knew he smoked at least once a month.  I asked him once if he ever worried about it, as he was definitely getting tested in his line of work.  he told me that passing drug screens was his only real talent in life, kind of like a superpower.  I've known other "superhuman" individuals who claimed this.  IDK about talent or superpowers, but hearing that sort of thing makes me think some tests/testing agencies are either really inefficient or just for show to discourage dabbling in drugs.

Also, don't do drugs.

(09-09-2021, 07:28 PM)bfine32 Wrote: First off: Why do we still test for weed?

Secondly: Google "Head Shop in my area" and go buy a detoxifier, but don't tell them it's because you your friend is preparing for a urine test. 

I think testing for weed will become less and less common.  Amazon already stopped doing it.  The relaxation of weed laws in several states combined with an atrocious labor market make this an ideal time to get rid of it altogether.

I had a neighbor over 20 years ago who worked in a testing lab, so he learned what the tests really did. They didn't look for the presence of THC, as most believe is the case. Instead, they looked at the level in comparison to other substances in the body. He smoked daily and was tested weekly, never failing as he knew what to eat and drink every day to keep the markers all in proper proportion. I wish I could remember what his regimen was, but that is the downfall of smoking a lot of weed back then. Although the actual tests might have very well changed since then anyway...

The question really shouldn't be why are they still testing ..That's kind of like asking why bars can still have parking lots, a stupid argument I made when I was racking up DUIs like a fool..
The real question is why is this person still willing to sacrifice his job over a bit of weed..Like weed I lost jobs over drinking and driving..It still affects me 20 years after quitting drinking..

The next job related topic? How can you fake a vaccine for Covid? Pretty easy..get the virus and risk dying over it.

(09-09-2021, 09:54 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Diluted samples; although not automatic failures, especially in a random (pre employment) screening are usually identified by color. 

A detox does not mask; it dilutes while leaving the urine the natural (not like water) color.

So funny story. I work in an oil refinery - which if you've ever been in one, tend to get hot as shit. Especially in summer. ESPECIALLY in August. So my company at the time dictated that we have to drink X amount of water based on Y temperature. 

This particular day was excruciatingly hot, and our Nomex were a very deep forest green. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and I was working near the hydrocracker (one of the hottest areas in the refinery - I call the particular area the Devil's Asshole because it's 2 heat exchangers side by side that look like legs and run HOT; couple hundred degrees outside of the insulation hot). So I was drinking A LOT of water. Then I got popped for a random.

No big deal I tell myself - you haven't smoked weed in 6 years, and even then it was a couple of hits every couple of months at most. So I go in, I drop, I go back to work.

Come back the next day to a suspension notice because my piss was so diluted because of all the water I was drinking to stave off heat stroke.

(09-10-2021, 01:18 PM)grampahol Wrote: The next job related topic? How can you fake a vaccine for Covid? Pretty easy..get the virus and risk dying over it.

The cards are pretty easy to fake. 

(09-09-2021, 07:28 PM)bfine32 Wrote: First off: Why do we still test for weed?

I guess it depends on the job at hand.  Personally I have no problem with recreational marijuana use by responsible people.   That said, I'd rather not get on a plane where the mechanic(s) might have been high while working on it.  There are many jobs where being clear headed is of importance.   Jobs that require attention to detail and clarity to ensure not only safety of the worker but those around them as well as the safety of those their work might affect.   While drug testing certainly does not eliminate those risks it does to some degree weed out (pun intended) higher (pun again) risk candidates.

(09-09-2021, 10:25 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: I had a neighbor over 20 years ago who worked in a testing lab, so he learned what the tests really did.  They didn't look for the presence of THC, as most believe is the case.  Instead, they looked at the level in comparison to other substances in the body.  He smoked daily and was tested weekly, never failing as he knew what to eat and drink every day to keep the markers all in proper proportion.  I wish I could remember what his regimen was, but that is the downfall of smoking a lot of weed back then.  Although the actual tests might have very well changed since then anyway...

I am not saying this guy never told you this.  But I am pretty sure that is BS.

I see a lot of drug screens and they do test specifically for THC.  I don't see how the level would make any difference if the test was positive for THC.

(09-13-2021, 03:32 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am not saying this guy never told you this.  But I am pretty sure that is BS.

I see a lot of drug screens and they do test specifically for THC.  I don't see how the level would make any difference if the test was positive for THC.

Yes they identify it, but what he was talking about was that the presence of THC alone is not what causes a failed test, rather the proportion of THC to other naturally occuring items in the body.  That is what shows the difference between someone who actively brings it into their body versus other means.  It's not like LSD, for example, that has no natural sources.  Presence of LSD alone says it all.  But with THC, there are ways it can enter the body without using cannabis.  And that was, in my understanding, what they were really looking to verify by the ratio of the testing markers.

Think Elaine Benes and her poppy seed muffins...