Just had a hair follicle drug test...

[RickJamesLich]

I've done recruiting and have set up plenty of people to be drug tested with hair follicle samples and I think you may be in trouble lol. Not trying to alarm you, but they can easily go back a year, sometimes even longer. I typically did this stuff for warehouse jobs too and I had a fail rate of probably 70% strictly because of that damn drug test.

[IIamaKing]

no the whole basis of this thread is his incredulity at having to take such a drug test at all for the job he applied for - he personally thinks its not needed, but in reality, if you are going to be operating any type of machinery (like warehouses do) or be responsible for a mass amount of property ( like warehouses hold) then i believe it to be a reasonable requirement to ensure the ppl you employ are ppl who dont do drugs that could cause accidents to happen to property or other employees - that said, how effective is a drug test really when ppl can LEGALLY be alcoholics and still have the same kind of accidents that the drugs you screened them for could cause?

Should they be allowed to drink? A hangover has more affect on my ability's than a joint.

[Shadowferal]

Just tell them you went on vacation to a place where it is legal. They can't really fault you for that.

Yes they can and will.

Companies in the US can't be forced to hire anyone. And most can fire you for any reason including no reason.

[RickJamesLich]

The only way to counter something being traced in your hair is to have it cut before hand. They'll be able to trace whatever you taken since it was last cut basically (depending on how short you have it done) Regardless, I wouldn't expect them to have a major problem with a bit of weed in your system. More people smoke it than those that don't these days so it seems. They're looking for proper drugs

A lot of places actually anticipate this and will try to either get a hair off your leg (since most guys don't shave there) or off the arm pit (ditto lol). I have heard there are special shampoo's that can help with passing the drug test, not sure if they actually work though.

[Yami]

You're probably fine...the follicle tests can in fact go back years...in any case don't worry about it, you'll find out soon enough.

My dad was in the military growing up and he had to avoid poppy seed muffins due to drug testing, apparently the poppy seeds would show up as an opiate when drug tested. :/ Not sure if that is still a thing.

I love lemon poppy seed muffins so I find it particularly sad that there were whole groups of people out there who couldn't eat them out of fear of them showing up in drug tests. :sadface:

It's still a thing, the majority of poppy seeds used for food come from Opium poppy seed.

[IIamaKing]

Yes they can and will.

Companies in the US can't be forced to hire anyone. And most can fire you for any reason including no reason.

TBF it might work. If he went into it saying. " a month ago I went to XXX and smoked some weed, not a habit of mine but I was in a place where it was legal and I wanted to try it". It COULD work.

[talwynn]

Alot of warehouses make people take drug tests and even randomly test people at work because most of the time they are using forklifts and other heavy machinery, with alot of product stack upwards 30-50 feet in the air on racks that aren't exactly stable. So they want to test the people who will be picking that product to make sure they don't show up stoned and knock over half a million dollars worth of product.

If the OP is worried about his privacy and what have you, refuse the drug test, and don't take the job. If you are this worried about it, maybe stand up to your friends and not smoke weed. If you were clean, you wouldn't care about taking the test, and you wouldn't be worried, that's on you though.

[Deleted]

TBF it might work. If he went into it saying. " a month ago I went to XXX and smoked some weed, not a habit of mine but I was in a place where it was legal and I wanted to try it". It COULD work.

That depends on whether it is down to bosses discretion or company policy, by letting you off the hook the boss may be putting himself on the chopping block.

[Erixi]

Hi there, looking for some input here and maybe i'm over-reacting..

Basically I've never been a huge pot head or anything, I smoked 2 or 3 times between April and June of this year and stopped. I had an interview for a warehouse job at the beginning of October and had 2 interviews. After the 2nd interview, they told me they hired somebody back and they would call me if something opened. Now I figured this was there way of telling me they were not interested. I was out on vacation in November, I was at one of my good friends birthday party and everybody was smoking, I was offered some and at first I didn't want to smoke and told my friends I was maybe waiting to hear back from a job and long story short kind of felt pressured into smoking. I can honestly say I only had 2 or 3 little hits and did not feel high in the slightest bit. I smoked on November 13th, I got back home on November 16th and got a call back from the job I interviewed with almost 2 months ago offering me the position. They said they had to run a background check which would take a couple weeks, and then go ahead with a normal drug test. Now my immediate instinct was to go purchase one of those over the counter drug tests from the store. On the 19th I went out and bought one and surprisingly passed. Now im not sure if its because I didn't have enough in my system for it to show, or if the product was faulty...

Two more weeks go by and I bought another over the counter drug test just to be sure, this was a couple days ago on the 2nd. I pass AGAIN, and these things have over a 99% success rate. So today is the big day where I meet with the company to take my drug test, I show up and they tell me its going to be a hair test. I've NEVER had a hair test in my entire life and my current job is one of high security clearance and not even that does a hair test, so why would a warehouse job require one? Anyways I was pretty nervous driving to the drug test place to give a hair sample.

They took it from my armpit's seeing as my hair on my head is too short. They didn't pull it from the roots or anything they just snipped off some and put it in a little bag. I've read that people say to cut your hair after smoking, but I don't cut armpit hair and I never would of thought that they would do a drug test testing my armpit hair... Do you think that even though I passed 2 urine tests within 2-3 weeks of smoking only 2 or 3 minor hits of pot, that I will pass my hair follicle test? I've heard that they can go back a while (sometimes years) but I'm wondering if I barely have enough in my system to even show considering both urine tests were 99% accurate and I passed.

Has anyone else had a similar situation or know anything about hair drug tests? I've google'd and can't find some solid info and hoping to post on here maybe to find some advice. I know I shouldn't have smoked almost a month ago, but I figured it wasn't a big deal and I wouldn't hear back from the job I had an interview at...won't find out my results til Tuesday hoping for the best.

You should be fine.

As for the company testing this way, it seems a bit much. They are basically looking for any which reason to not hire you or you seem very suspicious to them. One drug test is okay, 3 in the matter of weeks is a bit iffy. Most companies will do a simple pee swab test when you're considered for the job, a lab test if that comes back inconclusive or you injure yourself on the job, but very rarely do they do a hair follicle test. Why? Simply being it isn't as accurate. While they can tell if you did drugs for a long time and give an estimated date, they can not say you are an occasional user. However, they can determine a few other types of drug abuse that way as well, that a simple pee swab can not.

My advice is to be very cautious about this company and you working for them.

[Teye]

OP will definitely fail. That said, go get a prescription if you live where that's an option. Tell them you're having migraines that are keeping you up at night and that smoking has helped in the past.

[Kathandira]

TBF it might work. If he went into it saying. " a month ago I went to XXX and smoked some weed, not a habit of mine but I was in a place where it was legal and I wanted to try it". It COULD work.

I would think it would work. But as mentioned, you can be fired or denied employment for any reason really.

[talwynn]

Just tell them you went on vacation to a place where it is legal. They can't really fault you for that.

Yes they can. They can say well you have weed in your system, we are not hiring you, which would be a perfectly valid response. By your way of thinking, a doctor can get drunk and then go perform surgery and not be blamed because its legal.

[IIamaKing]

That depends on whether it is down to bosses discretion or company policy, by letting you off the hook the boss may be putting himself on the chopping block.

Oh for sure, its not fool proof by any measure. I am of the belief though, that honesty is the best policy. He has already taken the test, so its moot, you have to preempt this. Telling them prior to the result.

[Teye]

One drug test is okay, 3 in the matter of weeks is a bit iffy.

He tested himself twice to see if he would pass. Also, did you really need to quot the entire OP? We all saw it already.

[Dansdog]

Is drug testing before getting a job common in America? I have never had a drug test in Canada, I have had jobs operating fork lifts and driving large company trucks and they never cared. More recently I was working for the federal government with a secret clearance and they didn't test either.

[RobertoCarlos]

TBF it might work. If he went into it saying. " a month ago I went to XXX and smoked some weed, not a habit of mine but I was in a place where it was legal and I wanted to try it". It COULD work.

Nope. Admitting you smoked drugs in a job interview would just make their job easier of not selecting you.

If you're reading this OP, I'm fairly experienced with drug testing in particular with weed. And yes it is true the hair follicle test is more accurate than the basic urine tests its hard to say wither or not you will fail. I would guess at you passing though because it sounds like you only smoke every now and then. And its when you are a regular smoker that THC can store in your fat cells and that last a long long time. You should have sweated/pissed/shatt out all THC in your system by now. Can't do anything about it now anyway so gl

[Beazy]

When I was younger, back in 1997, I created a website for LabCorp: OnSite Mobile Labs. I learned a lot about drug tests from this project. here is what they say about the hair tests FAQ:

Q: What is hair drug testing?
Drug and drug metabolite(s) are incorporated into the hair matrix from the bloodstream following drug use. Hair drug testing detects drugs that are embedded in the hair.1

Q: How much hair is needed for a hair drug test?
A hair drug test with initial screen and confirmation requires 100 milligrams of hair (90 to 120 strands).

Q: What time period does a hair drug test cover?
Hair growth rates vary; typically, head hair grows at an average of one-half inch per month. Therefore, a 1.5 inch hair sample detects drug use up to 90 days prior to testing.1

Q: How does the drug detection window for hair compare to urine and oral fluid?
Drug detection times vary depending on the dose, sensitivity of the testing method used, preparation and route of administration, duration of use (acute or chronic), the matrix that is analyzed, the molecule or metabolite that is looked for, the pH and concentration of the matrix (urine, oral fluid), and variations in metabolic and renal clearance.2 In general, the detection time is longest in hair, followed by urine and oral fluid.2 Drugs in hair may be detectable for approximately 90 days, whereas drugs in urine are generally detectable for one to seven days or longer in chronic users and in oral fluid from five to 48 hours.2

Q: How soon after use can a drug be detected in hair?
Drug (and/or metabolite) can be detected approximately seven to 10 days from the time of drug use. This is the time in which the affected hair grows from the follicle to emerge above the scalp.1

Q: How can tests be run on people with little or no hair?
Hair may be collected from several head locations and combined to obtain the required amount of hair. If no head hair is collectable, an employer may choose to use oral fluid or urine testing to detect drug use.

Q: Can hair collected from a brush be used?
No, a hair sample must be collected using proper chain-of-custody protocol and collection techniques. The test subject must verify the authenticity of the sample at the time of collection.

Q: When testing for drugs, what are the differences between hair testing cut-off levels and urine testing cut-off levels?
Urine cut-off levels are expressed in nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) or as a weight of drug per unit volume of urine. Hair cut-off levels are expressed in picograms per milligram (pg/mg) or as a weight of drug per unit weight of hair.

Q: How does the laboratory address external exposure to certain drugs like marijuana or crack (cocaine) smoke?
While washing the hair sample may remove some of the contamination, ultimately external exposure can be differentiated from actual use because of the presence of the drug metabolite, which is not present when environmental contamination is the source of the drug.

[IIamaKing]

Nope. Admitting you smoked drugs in a job interview would just make their job easier of not selecting you.

If you're reading this OP, I'm fairly experienced with drug testing in particular with weed. And yes it is true the hair follicle test is more accurate than the basic urine tests its hard to say wither or not you will fail. I would guess at you passing though because it sounds like you only smoke every now and then. And its when you are a regular smoker that THC can store in your fat cells and that last a long long time. You should have sweated/pissed/shatt out all THC in your system by now. Can't do anything about it now anyway so gl

Not all places. I say this because I KNOW it has worked for me in the past. It has also worked for people I know. Its based on policy and how much discretion the hiring manager has.

As for your Statement of "he should be fine". You are flat out mistaken. That THC was stored in his hair days after he smoked, there it will remain until the hair is removed.

[Beazy]

http://www.medicaldaily.com/hair-fol...rijuana-356660

Uh-huh

It can, but because the follicle test can actually show the potency, its rare that a false positive would happen.

[IIamaKing]

It can, but because the follicle test can actually show the potency, its rare that a false positive would happen.

UAs can show potency as well.