Cocaine is the most powerful, naturally occurring stimulant that has yet been discovered and it has a history as old as time. Cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant, which is a native of South America. The majority of the coca crop is grown in only 3 South American countries, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. The extraction of cocaine from the leaves was discovered only after the Spaniards began exporting the leaves to Europe. The South American natives had contented themselves for years with merely chewing on the leaves which accomplished much the same purpose as far as cocaine extraction is concerned. The cocaine, when extracted forms a hard, crystalline type ball and must be acid neutralized in order for it to change from the rock form into a powder. If not treated with an acid, the cocaine will retain the hard rock qualities and form and this is known as crack cocaine, which is an even more strongly addictive drug. Cocaine is second in world popularity only to marijuana. But there is no other drug that comes close to generating the street dollars commanded by cocaine. The latest government estimate showed street cocaine at the center of an empire generating 80 billion dollars annually. It is not difficult to understand why the different drug cartels and street gangs are in such frequent wars to claim their share of the drug pie.

Cocaine’s history as a drug has its beginnings in South America. The natives there had been chewing coca leaves for untold years and had many uses for this plant. They had discovered that when they chewed the leaves and used the cocaine laced saliva, it made a wonderful topical anesthetic. They certainly put it to good use during actual surgeries that were performed hundreds of years ago. They could also stave off hunger pain as cocaine has superb appetite suppressing qualities also. And of course, when chewing on these same leaves, the natives had also found that they gained energy and great endurance. The coca leaves had a place of honor in many of their rituals as well and was simply used for stimulation and pleasure by many. The Spaniards at first believed that the cocaine was akin to the devil, but when they were able to try it for themselves they became cocaine converts and began exporting coca leaves to Europe.

During the years coca leaves and its precious cocaine developed quite a following, proudly being used by doctors, scientists and even Popes. A method had been devised to extract pure cocaine from the leaves and it was for sale at multiple establishments. The uses for this wonder drug ranged far and wide. It was used for teething as well as toothaches, for eye surgery and ingrown toenails and for nearly any other use one cared to name. Actually the growing use of cocaine heralded the dawning of a new time for medicine…..procedures could now be done in a fairly pain free way thanks to this new and powerful drug. The medical establishment was one of the most willing groups to experiment with cocaine and they were more than happy to experiment on themselves. The doctors proudly tested cocaine and they tested it on themselves in every way they could conceive.Sigmund Freud was one of these experimenters and he wrote volumes on the results that he and others achieved or witnessed.

By the turn of the 20th century an outcry against this drug had begun in earnest. People had become more aware of how powerful and how dangerous cocaine actually was. No longer was it looked upon with unbridled adoration. Times had definitely changed. Laws were enacted to govern the use and distribution of cocaine. Again things changed and cocaine enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, although it was still very much illegal, it was the party drug of choice and had achieved an almost cult like status. The surge of popularity during this time was much shorter lived due in part to better education and understanding and also to strictly enforced drug laws.

Cocaine detox

Urine drug tests were, at one time, primarily used by officers and workers within the correctional field and by attorneys and courts, but today the use has spread throughout the nation and into many areas. There is no denying that this test has helped spearhead the many efforts that have been made in securing drug free work environments. Even insurance companies will provide special discount rates for workers’ comp and health insurance if the companies have drug testing policies and procedures in place and are adhering to them.

Urine drug tests can be given to someone at any time of the day or night without compromising the results and the test truly requires little from either the participant or the examiner. The tests enjoy the reputation for a high rate of accuracy as well as the ability to test for numerous drugs. There is indisputable evidence that these drug tests have been largely responsible for a drastic decline in drug use among workers. These tests are indispensable to companies such as trucking concerns which must rely upon sober and drug-free drivers.

These same tests do have their drawbacks. Urine is a body fluid, and as such, it is considered a hazardous material and must be treated accordingly. This means that there are certain rules by OSHA that govern its collection, handling and disposal. These procedures must be maintained during the entire testing process or heavy fines could be imposed. The procedures include using gloves when handling the specimen, maintaining good hand washing and being certain there are facilities for this at the testing site, and having marked bags to hold the collection cups. Of course there is always the possibility of contamination of something or someone by some accidental or inadvertent spillage of the urine. The samples themselves must be kept cool or refrigerated while awaiting the testing, otherwise the urine will begin to degrade and render the test useless. The collection procedure must always be carefully monitored throughout the duration as well. There have been cases where people will try and have another person take their place. In some instances, there have been some who try to smuggle in clean urine in order to attempt to substitute this urine in place of their own. Often people will suffer from performance anxiety or a “shy bladder’ or just plain embarrassment and have extreme difficulty producing a sample. There are also the lost man-hours to tally up, as an employee who is in the process of being tested must absent himself from the job in order to comply.

It is very evident from the above, that urine drug tests have been very instrumental in the war on drugs. They continue to play a very important part in making workplaces drug and alcohol free. The result of this is a better and safer environment for all. Some opponents argue that these tests, as well as others, are unconstitutional, demeaning, humiliating and an invasion of privacy. These accusations seem more than a little harsh. Urine tests are nothing more than reporters and they merely are reporting what they find. If anything is unfair it is the person who is using illegal drugs and getting away with it.

Pass urine drug test

In today’s workplace environment a urine screen (or test) has become almost as routine as filling out of a job application. Urine tests are non-invasive methods of collecting a body fluid for the purpose of testing the sample for the presence of any drugs. It should be noted that a urine test ca not be used to test for the presence of a drug that has just been ingested, but it is very good at being able to find any traces of drugs that are presently being excreted by way of the urinary tract. Urine tests are designed to find the metabolites or traces of drugs. Metabolites are the by-products of the drug itself and these metabolites occur when your body has broken down a drug and is beginning to excrete it. These metabolites, or trace particles, are found in the urine for as long as it takes your body to process and clear the drug. For some drugs, the entire process could take 12 hours. For other drugs, traces remain in the urine you excrete for 1-3 days or longer. In some instances, such as with marijuana (pot) the urine may remain positive for 1-3 months. These timelines are all dependent on the type of drug taken and whether the use was short term or habitual. To a lesser degree clearance rates are also affected by body type, age, health factors, height and weight.

There are many drugs that a urine drug screen can track, but it is these major groups that are usually targeted; cocaine and other opiates, marijuana, barbiturates, amphetamines, alcohol and even PCP. These urine tests have extremely high rates of accuracy and all of the testing procedures are double checked and monitored. Although many try, there is little a person can do to overturn the validity of a positive report from a urine drug screen. For well over 20 years the urine drug tests have been making inroads across the United States. As drug use increased so did the reliability and technology of the tests and this has also led to more demand for them.

The urine drug testing kit is quite simple and is comprised of a wipe and a small plastic specimen cup with a lid. There is no preparation necessary, one need only provide a freshly voided urine sample into the collection cup and hand it over to the appropriate examiner. The examiner will label it and record pertinent data such as temperature, pH, color and specific gravity. These are all necessary checks to help ascertain the validity and accuracy of the proffered specimen. There are many people who continue to try and fool the test through various means. Some people try to adulterate the specimen by adding drops of Visine, vinegar or other liquids to the specimen in an effort to invalidate some or all of the test results. Others will drink water and fill themselves to bursting beforehand in an effort to dilute their urine in an effort to also dilute traces of any drugs. This is one reason color and specific gravity is closely watched. The measurements and color of the urine specimen alone will often indicate whether or not it is a true and valid specimen. There are even many drinks and other concoctions that are being hawked both on the street and the internet that all promise to provide you with the means to fool any urine drug test. These are, needless to say, largely false and very misleading claims.

Synthetic Urine

The reliability and accuracy of these tests are in the 98-99% range and they are quite easy to read by those who are charged with administering and documenting the tests. No longer is there any worry about being splashed with bodily fluids and there is no cleaner method available for collecting a body fluid specimen. The employee is able to maintain his composure and dignity during the entire testing procedure and he does not feel violated, as many did under the constant observation during the urine tests. One of the better features of this test is the ability to isolate any of the target drugs that have just been taken. In the past, there were many stories about people that would actually take urine tests while high and yet the urine test would be clean because the drug was too new within the body to show up. With the use of the urine collection tests, the collection could only be done after the drugs had sufficient time to metabolize in the body. It was only after the drug metabolization had begun and the body had begun to excrete that the older tests were able to isolate traces of them. This is not the case any longer thanks to the advent of the new oral fluid collection technology. There is no loss of man hours due to waiting for the completion of a test or to get the results….it takes only a minute ,or so ,to do an oral test, and 10 minutes to see the results. There is no way of adulterating, falsifying or confusing this test. For many employers it is a wonderful innovation, for which there truly was a need.

Oral fluid tests can sometimes be hampered by a lack of oral saliva, and recent food or drink that has been ingested can also have an effect on the drug quantification. But these are quite small negatives. These tests are only geared, unfortunately, for the major types of abused drugs…..opiates, cocaine and heroin, barbituates, alcohol and THC. They can only tell recent drug use. Which is one reason, their scope includes the more prevalent, illegal drugs, and the tests can not give any indications of any past drug histories. These tests can and do clearly show how greatly improved today’s drug testing method truly is.

Although the number of drugs that an oral fluids test can check for is relatively small, this one small negative is offset by the numerous positive factors that oral fluid collecting kits have brought to the table. In the past, the procedures surrounding a urine drug screen did often cause humiliation and anger or resentment. An oral test manages to get the job done and over with almost as soon as the person can blink. And any employer would far rather know if an employee is actually using drugs at work, as opposed to knowing that an employee had drank some beer at his home during his time off. This test makes a great deal sense when it is applied and used in a proper setting. These tests may soon become the gold standard in the majority of workplace settings, particularly in settings where it is imperative that the employees are sober and alert, such as in the trucking or heavy machinery fields.

Pass any Oral Fluid Drug test.

Oral fluid drug tests have provided employers and employees with a more dignified, and safer, method of checking for drug use. Thanks to advances in technology, we have a safer and accurate method of checking for drugs in the workplace, particularly at short notice and in almost any workplace setting. Previously, urine samples would be required and this was not a time or cost efficient method due to the time constraints of collecting and sending samples, refrigeration and packing of the samples and the cost of the sample kits themselves. Then there was also the fact that some samples were difficult, if not impossible to collect, and the only alternative was to wait it out, this has been classified as the “bashful bladder syndrome”. Urine sample collection also was a time of awkwardness and embarrassment as well as outright mortification for some. And every employee would have to cooperate. Employers had to have restroom facilities available for the duration of the testing procedures or have the employees go off-site for additional testing which would always necessitate a higher cost to both employee and employer as then you would have to factor in another transportation cost. In addition, the privacy of the employees was non-existent, due to the nature of the test. Oral drug tests are able to provide quick and reliable results and have proven to be quite cost efficient. The cost of the kits is even cheaper than those for urine collection.

The drugs which can be tested for include THC, cocaine and heroin, alcohol, Ecstasy, barbiturates and amphetamines. These oral fluid collection tests may actually be superior at determining opiate usage than the urine test. This is the only test that shows whether a person is under the influence of a drug that he has just taken. This type of testing also has the added feature of being able to ascertain drug usage within the last 6 hours, something other tests could not do. The only single preparation a testee needs is to refrain from any eating and drinking for at least 1 hour prior to having the oral swab taken. Most employees prefer this test as it involves merely a swab between the cheek and lower gum which allows oral saliva to be collected onto the cotton padding of the swab. These tests can be used in any remote job locations. Employers can always choose to hire someone on the spot, thanks to the efficiency and accuracy of these tests, if they wish. There do not have to be any restroom facilities available at the test site. No private rooms are ever needed and no private monitor is necessary to document the authenticity of the oral saliva collection procedure. There are some of these oral fluid collection test kits which will allow the testing of multiple people at one time. Technology, time management and cost effectiveness rolled up into one efficient kit. These tests are also available for home use.