12
Jan 2023
Marijuana Detection Times and Urine Drug Tests
Before you begin to read this article it is essential you understand the amount of variability involved in this subject. The factors that can affect this, ranges from a person’s diet, metabolism, stress, to the amount and potency of marijuana ingested. Luckily, I found a great article that answered a tremendous amount of my own questions on the subject, and my own testing gave me even more insight I can share with you. From the California NORML page I found a great write up. But before we dive into my findings its best you understand the drug tests that you will probably be taking in the near future. Most urine tests that are administered test for a marijuana by-product called THC-COOH. This is a non-psychoactive chemical that does not make you high but merely exists in your body after your body has broken down the THC you have used. The urine tests that do exist are called the immunoassay test and the gas chromatography and mass spectrometry test. The main difference between these two tests is the GC/MS is much more sensitive then the immunoassay test and is more accurate and the immunoassay test tends to turn up more false positives because of its sensitivity to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Many tests have certain fail-safes so that people cannot cheat on them. They test for the levels of creatinine in your urine to check if it is diluted. They also check for certain additives that can be applied to urine that can mask a positive result. Some tests also test for the temperature of your urine to make sure it is not a substitute. Last but not least different tests check for different levels of THC-COOH in your urine. It can range from 15-50 ng (nanograms). The higher the level the easier it will be to pass a drug test. I have personally smoked 6 days before a test with a 20 ng threshold and have passed but I was clean before I smoked and I had a little less than a bowl pack. I have also smoked 5 grams on one day, .75 grams on the next day, and .5 grams the next day, and barely passed a home drug test 7 days later that tests at a 50 ng threshold. This was after working out everyday (I ran about 5 miles a day). I am about 140 pounds and am pretty fit with a quick metabolism so I can metabolize the by-product pretty quickly. From the NORML website I found these very informative graphs.

