About Hair Testing
Advantages of Hair Testing
To date most drug screening has been done
by testing urine samples, but it is not possible to detect most drugs
in urine after 48-72 hours since the majority of drugs are out of the
body by then. This makes it difficult to detect drug use by random testing
or to monitor the success of treatment in a clinical setting, and impossible
to prove use or non-use historically.
Hair analysis is proven to solve
these problems, providing a secure, retrospective window of detection.
Hair can show the trend of a habit over time and accurately determine
what drugs were used. Just as importantly, it will show definitively if
someone has not been taking any illicit substances.
Hair tests help detect
misuse as they give the history of a client's drug usage prior to sampling
and are also excellent if confirmation is required for a positive urine
test. Samples can be taken months or even years after the incident, provided
there is sufficient length of hair. Hair is far less prone to substitution
or tampering than urine samples. Because of its unique window of detection
and superior analysis, hair testing does not need to be carried out as
frequently as urine testing, proving a cost-effective method of detecting
drug use. Hair analysis provides evidence that stands up in Court - the
detection of drugs in human hair is a technique which lawyers use as irrefutable
evidence of either drug abuse or abstinence.
- Longer window of detection, months instead of 48-72 hours.
- Cost-effective and time-saving - one hair test vs. 18 urine samples for 3-month profile.
- Eliminates the need for random testing.
- 5-10 times more sensitive test than urinalysis, and proven in a court of law.
- Simpler to collect, store and transport.
- More dignified method to use.
- Differentiates between one-off incidents and addictive behaviour.
- Excellent pre-employment screening tool - dramatically reduces evasion.
