Drug Detection and Retention Times

Drug of abuse testing by blood, urine, saliva or any other method (except forensic hair analysis) is designed only to detect whether or not a specific drug or drug metabolite is present at the time the test is performed. While there are very broad estimates as to how long a particular drug may have been in the system, no drug test (regardless of method) is intended to include a time variable.

Generally, chronic use of high potency drugs by individuals with a high body fat count, low metabolism rate (older) and in poor general health will place drug clearance periods at the higher range. To re-emphasize, it should be clearly understood that drug tests are not intended to determine when drugs were used, only whether the drug screened for is present at the time the test is performed. It should also be clearly understood that complete abstinence from the target drug is required from the start of the "minimum" to the end of the "maximum" detection period to clear the user's system completely.

Many factors unique to the individual being tested determine the actual half-life of the particular drug including such variables as age, weight, body fat index, sex, metabolic rate, overall health and amount of drug consumed over what period of time. Therefore, no conclusions can be drawn as to when a particular drug was taken or how much was consumed with any type of drug of abuse test. For reasons noted, the ranges stated in the table below are approximations only.

Commonly Abused Drugs and Detection Times

Substance	Proprietary or Street Names	Route of Administration	Minimum	Maximum
Amphetamine	Biphetamine, Dexedrine; Black Beauties, Crosses, Hearts, Speed, Uppers	Injected, oral, smoked, sniffed	1-3 hours	1-4 days
Cocaine	Coke, Crack, Flake, Rocks, Snow	Injected, smoked, sniffed	1-4 hours	2-4 days
Meth-amphetamines	Desoxyn; Crank, Crystal, Glass, Ice, Speed	Injected, oral, smoked, sniffed	1-3 hours	2-4 days
Nicotine	Cigars, Cigarettes, Smokeless tobacco, Snuff, Spit tobacco	Smoked, sniffed, oral, transdermal	4-6 hours	**Infrequent user: 2-3 days Chronic user: 7 to 14 days
Phencyclidines* (PCP)	PCP; Angel Dust, Boat, Hog, Love Boat	Injected, oral, smoked	5-7 hours	*Infrequent user: 6-8 days Chronic user: 21-28 days+
Amphetamine variants	DOB, DOM, MDA, MDMA; Adam, Ecstasy, STP, XTC	Oral	2-7 hours	2-4 days
Cannabinoids (THC-Marijuana)	Blunt, Grass, Herb, Pot, Reefer,	Oral, smoked	6-18 hours	*Infrequent user: up to 10 days Chronic user: 30 days or longer
Opiates
Codeine	Tylenol w/codeine, Robitussin A-C, Empirin w/codeine, Fiorinal w/codeine	Injected, oral	2 hours	2-3 days
Heroin	Diacetylmorphine; Horse, Smack	Injected, smoked, sniffed	2 hours	2-3 days
Methadone	Amidone, Dolophine, Methadose	Injected, oral	2 hours	2-6 days
Morphine	Roxanol, Duramorph	Injected, oral, smoked	2 hours	2-3 days
Depressants
Alcohol	Beer, Wine, Liquor	Oral	0-4 hours	<=12-24 hours
Barbiturates	Amytal, Nembutal, Seconal, Phenobarbital; Barbs	Injected, oral	2-4 hours	Short acting type (Pento-barbital, Alphenal, Amobarbital, Allobarbital, Butethal, Secobarbital ) 1-4 days Long acting type (Pheno-barbital, Barbital ) 2-3 weeks or longer
Benzodiazepines	Ativan, Halcion, Librium, Rohypnol, Valium; Roofies, Tranks, Xanax, T-bars	Injected, oral	2-7 hours	Infrequent user: 3 days Chronic user: 4-6 weeks

Target Drug	Minimum Detection Time	Maximum detection Time
Anabolic Steroids	4-6 hours	Oral: 2-3 weeks Injected: 1-3 months (Naldrolene 8 months+)
LSD	2 hours	1-4 days
Mescaline	1-2 hours	2-4 days
Methaqualone	3-8 hours	Up to 10 days
MDMA (ecstasy)	1 hour	2-3 days
Propoxyphene	4-6 hours	3-6 days
Psilocybin (Mushrooms)	2 hours	1-3 days
Rohypnol	1 hour	< =12 hours
GHB	1 hour	< =12 hours