ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DRUG TESTS

Eating a poppy-seed bagel could make a person test positive for opiate use,
but a closer examination will reveal the truth.

Marijuana, depending on how much is smoked, can be detected in urine for up
to a month.

But a night of binge drinking might not show up in a test for alcohol a
couple of days later.

These are the answers to commonly asked questions about the drug-testing
programs often aimed at teen-age athletes, said Dr. Joseph Franz, a Powell
family physician, and Thomason Smith, manager of outreach laboratory
services for Ohio State University Medical Center.

Franz also operates Sports Safe, which collects urine samples from school
athletes in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He sends the samples to a testing company
in Illinois.

Testing is a two-step process, the men said.

First, urine is checked for broad categories of substances. Schools
typically test for alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine, marijuana,
nicotine and PCP.

If any show up, a second test determines concentration levels and identifies
specific drugs in those categories, such as codeine, heroin, speed and
Valium.

The concentration of the substance found, expressed in nanograms -- a
millionth of a gram -- determines whether a test is positive. For example, a
positive amphetamine sample contains at least 500 nanograms per milliliter
of urine. A positive marijuana sample contains at least 15 nanograms per
milliliter.

Labs protect themselves against false-positive results by collecting two
samples. One is frozen and kept in case a student's family wants the test
redone at another lab.

A doctor appointed by the school district talks to students whose tests are
positive to see whether prescription or over-the-counter medicines could be
responsible.

"It could be an over-the-counter item in large quantities," Smith said. For
example, cough medicine with codeine would make a test positive for opiates.

So would poppy seeds, he said, but it's easy to find out whether real
opiates are the cause. Each substance has its own molecular fingerprint.
Poppy seeds and heroin wouldn't produce the same one.

Many labs also test for substances that aren't drugs but that can mask their
presence. Not all school districts pay for these extra tests, Franz said.
Olentangy and Logan Elm, which both contract with Sports Safe, receive the
additional analysis.

"There's this stuff called Klear, which is potassium nitrite, which can
block marijuana," Franz said. "You can hide it in your sock real easily,"
and put it in the urine sample.

He has also heard of people adding baking soda, bleach, vinegar, Visine and
WD-40 to try to hide the presence of drugs.

Some products advertise that taking them before a test will mask drugs. But
Franz said labs can figure out whether someone is has used a masking
substance. For example, they question any sample that seems abnormally
watered down, and many school districts will require the student to submit
another sample.

"It's very rare, and in any one school it probably happens once or twice
during the year," Franz said.

Even sneaking in a "clean" sample of one's own urine, or someone else's,
won't work because it will be cooler than body temperature.

At Olentangy High School, the presence of a masking substance is considered
a positive test, said Principal Robert Thompson, who recalled only one such
instance in the three years the district has been testing.

Smith said commercial masking agents don't work all that well anyway. It's
the water that flushes the drugs out.

"Everything that's sold . . . has in there, 'Drink copious amounts of
water.' If you do that, anything that's in (the urine) is going to be
diluted," he said.

Dr. Peter Rogers, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital, said that's the
reason urine drug tests aren't completely reliable. Many drugs, such as
alcohol and barbiturates, are easily flushed from the body with a few
glasses of water.

Smith concurred.

"If you drink on Friday, and you go out after a game and have 10 beers, by
Monday it's not going to be there," he said.

Some districts try to get around that with weekend testing. For example,
Pickerington calls athletes on Saturday night and tells them to go to
Fairfield Medical Center on Sunday.

Rogers noted that the tests don't look for some drugs.

"A lot of the drugs kids use now don't show up on drug screens -- drugs like
LSD and Ecstasy," he said. "You can test for them, but it's expensive."

Smith added GHB, also known as liquid Ecstasy and the date-rape drug, to the
list.

Rogers, who opposes random drug testing, said, "Kids know what drugs show up
on urine screens. So kids won't smoke marijuana during the football season.
They'll use something else."

Franz said he doesn't agree. He was a team physician at Olentangy for nine
years.

"What was happening," he said, "was they would smoke some marijuana because
they would think they'd play better because they're more relaxed."