Drug Test for Marijuana

An increasing number of businesses and organizations use marijuana drug tests in the workplace. They believe pre employment and random drug testing has an effect on drug use. However, it appears this is not changing the numbers of people who use drugs.Would you believe an estimated 55 million people are subjected to drug testing every year!

Most of these are employee urine drug testing. Hello, my name is Yancey and I’m also an employee. Being drug tested has never been something I looked forward to. I’ve been exposed to workplace drug testing and passed every time. I passed because I knew no illegal substances were in my system.

But because I …

pass marijuana drug tests


thc drug tests

…doesn’t mean I may not have a marijuana metabolite in my body.

THC is the metabolite that’s produced when marijuana is smoked or eaten. That’s right eaten! A metabolite is the substance that’s left behind by a particular drug. You could say it’s a type of footprint in the job seeker or employee being tested. Thirty days has long been the accepted standard for THC being in a person’s system.

Marijuana drug tests are conducted more than any other, probably because it is used more than any other illegal drug. Those who work or are looking for a job and use marijuana may have a problem. Can I pass a test for marijuana drug in my system? Is the question they should ask. Unfortunately there is no simple answer.

Employees exposed to drug testing should have a good understanding about metabolites. Follow this link for more info.

pre employment drug testing

marijuana drug tests

Marijuana Drug Screening

Thc Drug Screen

Unless the employee or job seeker wants to use a home drug test kit probably every two or three days it will be hard to know how long the marijuana metabolite stays with you. However there are some steps you can take that may assist you in figuring out how long the marijuana drug detection time will be in your urine.

How often you use or abuse marijuana
Recreational use can mean different things to different people. Smoking a joint or two of marijuana once every three or four weeks reduces the possibility of failing a drug in employment pre test, employee drug test or random employee drug testing.

Having the required amount of metabolites in the body when your urine sample is tested will also be diminished. However, smoking daily greatly increases the likelihood not passing an employee drug test.

The job applicant or employee’s metabolism
I have had many people over the years ask me how do you eat so much an stay so slim. Well for one thing I’m a fitness instructor. But I also have a high metabolic rate which means I tend to burn fat faster than the average person.

The THC metabolites in marijuana are what’s called fat-soluble. This means those metabolites will be absorbed in fat cells and take longer to exit your system than a drug that is water-soluble. A slim person that also has a higher metabolism can get THC metabolites out of their system faster.

It’s just the opposite if you have body fat that’s higher than say 15% you have a much better chance of having a marijuana drug test failure.

The amount of water you drink
The more water the job seeker or employee drinks the faster the body can remove wastes and metabolites.

How much exercise you get
When you exercise you use more energy. This in turn causes the body’s cells to get rid of more waste, which also contains metabolites. A lot of water and exercise reduces the amount of THC metabolite in the body.

marijuana drug tests

Marijuana Drug Test Levels

Other things that can affect how long marijuana (THC) metabolites remain in the job seeker or employee’s system are…

  • Type of sample used (urine, hair, blood, sweat, etc)
  • Drug test methods (urine drug screen, drug follicle hair test, blood drug testing, etc.)
  • Cutoff levels (minimum traces of drug or metabolite present to result as a positive test)
  • Age (The older you get the slower your metabolism resulting in longer detection time)
  • Urine itself (If urine pH is very acidic the drug detection report time is shorter)
  • Health(Your physical condition is important)
The chart below shows the basic guidelines for how often marijuana is used and the estimated detection times

Marijuana (THC) Drug Detection Times:

1 time only
5-8 days
2-4x per month
11-18 days
2-4x per week
23-35 days
5-6x per week
33-48 days
49-63 days

What all this marijuana drug test info shows is that job seekers and employees best way to pass a marijuana drug test is to not smoke or eat it! I’m not advocating drug use. If you do use or abuse marijuana don’t indulge for at least 4 to 5 weeks before drug testing for employment.

Since a lot of employers don’t or won’t let you know when your name will be called to be tested making sure you are ready would be a wise move. You wouldn’t want to get caught not passing a random drug test. That’s if you want or need to keep your job of course! I know I do for the time being anyway. Check out my page on drug testing at random.

workplace random drug testing

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