Urine Drug Test vs. Hair Follicle Drug Test: 8 FAQs

If you’re running a business, it’s essential that you are hiring the best possible employees for the job. Unfortunately, there are so many potential employees who are wasting their talent by abusing drugs, and these people often end up being extremely poor workers. And, unfortunately, a bad hire is actually the best case scenario. Workers with a drug or alcohol problem can also pose a huge liability to the company, and if they operate tools, vehicles, or heavy equipment, then they can actually put other workers’ lives at risk.

In order to determine whether or not a job candidate is right for your company, you should consider drug and alcohol tests. However, you may be wondering whether a urine or hair drug test is the best choice for your needs.

Urine Drug Test vs. Hair Follicle Drug Test:
There are important differences between these two common employee drug tests, and there are pros and cons to each. Hopefully, this list of frequently asked questions will help you better understand the benefits and differences of both hair follicle and urine drug testing.

• • What is the more economic testing method? — Urine drug tests are much more affordable for a company to administer. That’s one of the main reasons they are such a popular choice.

• • What test is easier to administer? — Urine testing is easier because it can be done at home or in the office.

• • What test has a longer detection period? — Hair follicle drug tests have much longer detection periods for illicit drugs. With hair testing, drugs can be detected up to 90 days after use, which makes these tests much harder to pass for active drug users.

• • What test covers the most drugs? — Hair testing can easily identify the following drugs: marijuana, cocaine, opiates, MDMA, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and phencyclidine.

• • Can a single hair follicle work for testing? — No. A single hair is not enough for hair follicle drug tests; many more sample hairs are required for sufficient results.

• • What is the detection period for urine testing? — Typically, urine tests can detect drugs in an applicant’s system for up to one week.

• • Can either test be tampered with? — Of course, people attempt to tamper with drug tests of all kinds, though it’s much easier to tamper with urine testing. While urine tests are much more reliable today, some drug users will attempt to adulterate the sample, either by using someone else’s urine or by watering down the sample.

• Can urine testing detect immediate drug use? — No. If a user has taken drugs within three hours prior to testing, the drugs may not show up in the test results.

Hopefully, these answers helped you better understand what testing method is right for you and your company. If you want to learn more or find quality drug test kits, contact Drug Screen Compliance today.