STEP 469: Detection of Adulterated Urine Samples in Drug Abuse Testing (CE: 1.0)


Description:

At the height of President Reagan’s war on drugs, he attempted to achieve a drug-free work environment through an executive mandate signed into law in 1986. The cat-and-mouse game began with drug users attempting to game the system through various methods, including adulteration, urine substitutions, and diluting the urine. Although the application of urine dipsticks and conducting urine integrity tests can detect many chemically adulterated urine samples, commercially introduced adulterants can go undetected and alter the test results. Newly designed spot tests have, however, shown promising results in verifying the accuracy of urine drug tests. The article discusses the most current methods for detecting household and commercial adulterants in urine samples.

 

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the two main urinary drug tests
  • Describe methods used to mask the presence of illicit drugs in urine
  • Describe the process used to detect illicit drugs in urine

 

Author(s):

Dariush Yalzadeh, RPT (AMT)

 

Launched: 2020