DRUG TESTERS MUST KNOW THE ROPES

Scores of Internet sites hawk products to help people beat drug tests.
These products, ranging from $15 to $150, are a sign of the times as
companies seek to cull workers who are on illegal drugs.

Companies looking to hire say they're ready. And the testing process has
become complex.

While most employers use the urine test, which reports the exact amount of
a drug in an applicant's system at the time of the test, some businesses
prefer hair tests, said Cheryl Lunn, of Drumm Enterprises in Greenville.

Hair tests can detect drugs used up to 90 days ago, while drugs show up in
urine for 30 to 45 days at most, she said. Hair tests are usually about
double the cost of a urine sample, she said. Certain things instantly tip
collectors that a sample has been tampered with, Lunn said. First, any
urine sample below 92 degrees or above 100 degrees cannot be tested.

"It's like a big red flag that they've done something to their specimen,"
she said. Most specimens are recorded between 96 and 94 degrees, she said.
That's because within four minutes, the specimen will drop from 98 to 92
degrees. To make sure temperatures are accurate, clients have their
temperature taken, Lunn said.

As far as most "flushes" go, at a good testing site, they merely buy time,
because flushes that contain supplements like goldenseal and ginseng dilute
urine.

"We can't test that either, and they'll have to come back," she said.

During the 15 years she's been in the testing industry, she's known people
to go as far as drinking vinegar water and chlorine, which change the pH
levels of urine. Her lab checks pH, and it doesn't test those samples
either, she said.

She said collectors subscribe to and read the same newsletters, magazines
and books as the drug users.

"If you went to a concert and there were a bunch of people smoking around
you, these levels now include that," Lunn said.

Because certain prescription medications and over-the-counter cough syrups
will produce a positive test for drugs, medical review officers are crucial
in testing, said Dr. Robert Bennett, an MRO who owns a testing facility in
Charleston.

Unfortunately, many tests performed in South Carolina are not reviewed by
an MRO, he said.

"When someone tests positive, it's my job to determine whether or not there
is a valid reason or if it's the result of drug abuse," he said.

Sometimes there is a valid reason. People prescribed Adderall or Ritalin
may test positive for amphetamines. Someone treating a cold with an
over-the-counter cough medicine containing codeine could test positive for
morphine, an opiate. Marinol, which is primarily prescribed to control
nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients, contains THC, the active drug
in marijuana.

All drugs except marijuana are water-soluble and will leave the body in two
to three days. Marijuana is fat-soluble can take up to 30 to 45 days to
clear out, he said.