Not only in the United States, but the menace of drug abuse has become a global problem that has ruined a countless number of lives of people. Teenagers and young people are an easy target for drug peddlers as their immature minds can easily get distracted and influenced in lack of guidance and supervision from family.
There are different reasons as to why an individual takes up this mentally and physically damaging addiction. What begins as a leisure activity for fun gradually develops into an addiction that becomes hard to get rid of.
It’s not that only teens are taking drugs; this serious problem has spread its fangs to workplaces also, with many employees indulging in drug abuse.
It’s rightly said that prevention is better than cure.
In the context of drug abuse, it is very important for parents and employers to take early preventive steps to intervene at the right time.
What Is a Drug Test Kit?
A drug test, also referred to as drug screening, is a type of test that helps to detect the presence of illicit parent drugs or their metabolites in the biological specimen of the human body.
Good quality, accurate drug testing kits such as those of 12 Panel Now are available easily in the market and can be used by parents, employers and/or the government.
Drug testing kits are available as a single or multi-panel drug test kits. The main difference between the two is that the former can detect a single drug while the latter can detect multiple drugs at a time. These kits are economical, easy to use, and give quick, accurate results.
Depending on the number of drugs multi-panel test kits can detect, they are named as 3-panel, 6-panel, 8-panel, 10-panel, 12-panel, and 13-panel drug test kits. A single sample of urine or saliva can be used to detect the presence of drugs such as methamphetamine, barbiturates, buprenorphine, cocaine, alcohol, LSD, MDMA, nicotine, heroin, ecstasy, marijuana, opiate, oxycodone, phencyclidine among others.
The type of kit you choose to buy directly depends on your requirement. A drug test kit you buy is fairly straightforward and easy to use. This kit consists of specially designed drug test cups with a no drip screw top lid in which urine specimen is collected.
These extremely sensitive cups are leak resistant and carry an easy to peel-and-read label with an in-built temperature strip that is used to authenticate the donor’s urine. You should only purchase drug test kits that affiliate to SAMHSA cut-off levels.
How Do They Work?
The biggest advantage of using FDA approved, CLIA waived drug test kits is that they are affordable, accurate, and easy to use. Urine drug testing is by far the most popular method to detect the presence of drugs in the system. The accuracy of the test usually depends on the quality of a drug kit, sample, and procedure used.
If you have never used such a kit before, then you should understand the way this kit works to know how you can find out the substances that are used/abused by the individual.
Read on to know about this process with the help of easy pointers:
- The process begins with taking the urine sample of the donor in a single/multi-panel drug cup soon after removing its seal. This should be done in room temperature (59-78 degrees F).
- After the urine specimen is stored in the drug testing cup, the cap is screwed on the top of it. Donor’s name and date is mentioned on the label on the cup for maintaining the record.
- Temperature strip label should be checked within 2-4 minutes of collection of urine specimen. Green color indicates the temperature of the urine specimen. The ideal range for the adulterated specimen is 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit.
- An absorbent test strip soaks the urine at a certain speed. The presence of any drug metabolites in the urine reacts to the drug-specific antibodies found in the test strip.
- Positive/negative results of the test are indicated by the presence or absence of colored bands in the result area of the test strips.
- The results should be read at 5 minutes.
- Positive results are indicated by the presence of only one color in the control region and no apparent colored band appears in the test region.
- A negative test is indicated by the appearance of two colored bands; one in the control region and another appears in the test region.
- Invalid test results in the failure of the control band to appear at all.
- Review and repeat the whole procedure with a new test all over again.
Conclusion
The accuracy of the results of a drug testing kit usually depends on how strictly the urine sample was tested. Proper testing in a controlled environment usually gives more than 95% accurate results.
It is a very useful product for various organizations, parents, and law enforcement agencies to determine the existence of drug abuse.