FAQ: Rapid Drug Testing

Due to the dangerous effects of drugs on society, there have been concerns both by public and the government. To ward off such threats, there had been much effort from the government; in terms of setting up federal agencies and passing laws for prevent drug’s of abuse. The federal agency, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), formerly under the direction of the main federal agency regulating drug usage called National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has stated that around 20 million people, over 12 years of age, are illicit drug user in USA.

Drug testing

Drug testing or drug screening is the process of analyzing, if a person is using a specific drug or a group of drugs, through testing traces of drugs or metabolic products resulting from drug consumption. There are NIDA specified federally regulated drug testing that covers specific and significant drug groups and there are non-federally regulated testing that may additionally cover other group of drug’s presence. However, depending upon factors like cost, convenience, testing samples, ambience, situation, etc; the drug testing has become a very complex and uncomfortable process at many times. So, in these cases, rapid drug testing is the most optimum process to adhere, for preventing drug abuse and help affected person to undergo drug rehabilitation.

Rapid drug testing

The process of rapid drug testing ensures a very convenient and fast method to test the presence of drugs of abuse. These are done through kits, which are portable and thus, the test can be carried anywhere. Moreover, they provide results very fast, i.e. within few minutes. At some time, these tests need to be confirmed by other tests to determine the result more accurately or nail down the exact amount of traces, but nonetheless the results from these tests give credible information for specific drug’s presence, very fast. Also, the kits available for rapid drug testing are available within a wide variety and ranges. The kits range varies with the accuracy, type of drug testing and the cost of the kits.

Advantage of rapid drug testing

Due to the specialties of rapid drug testing methods, these have got numerous advantages and have helped in the popularity of drug testing. Following are some of the main vantages.

-          Rapid drug testing methods are very fast and can be done very conveniently. This helps the parents, schools and workplace management to adhere to the mandatory drug testing guidelines.

-          These are very portable. So, the test can be done anywhere, especially a self-test by parents for their children or family member has become very convenient.

-          There are a wide range of rapid drug testing kits available in market. So, every one can aquire their customized kits at their own price, selecting their drug accuracy results preference and the type of drugs, they want to test for their subject.

-          Most of these kits come with all the necessary equipments like specimen collecting cup, to make the product integrated and hence, achieve portability. This also helps in maintaining privacy at times like, when the specimen needed to be a urine sample. Added to that, it also prevents adulteration of samples.

-          These are safe, even while maintaining discretion. Due to the size, convenience and portability; a small test can be performed by parents, teachers, government agencies or employers at their location. These results can be recorded in a data management system with a chain of custody. They are admissible in the court of law.