About Hair Testing
Theoretical basis of detection in hair
Traditional methods of drug detection involve
the analysis of urine. Most drugs however disappear from urine within
2-3 days of use, so intermittent use is easily concealed. Hair analysis
provides a much better approach. Most drugs are deposited permanently
within the hair shaft in small but measurable amounts, enabling an accurate,
dignified screening programme that will detect drug use for months or
years prior to the test.
Detection of drugs in hair
In addition, sophisticated drug users can substitute a bogus urine specimen
unless collection is directly witnessed, which is invasive. The improved
detection rate over urine testing (5-10 times greater) provides a definitive
cost-effective procedure. Just one hair test can produce the same amount
of information as 6 urine samples. Only 4 samples spread over the year
give absolute confidence of total illicit drug abstention.
Hair analysis provides evidence which stands up in Court. The detection
of drugs in human hair is a technique which lawyers are using as irrefutable
evidence of either drug abuse or abstinence.
Hair provides a window of detection measured in months not days as in
the case of urine. There are numerous benefits from the knowledge of the
history of drug taking.
Incorporation of Drugs into Hair
Hair grows at an average rate of 1cm per month. Every single hair follicle has its own blood supply, which provides the hair with the relevant nutrients in order to grow. Once a drug is taken, it is absorbed into the blood stream and circulated around the body. As the hair grows, it takes drugs from the blood supply and incorporates them into the hair follicle. The drugs can remain in the hair almost permanently. A 3cm section of hair can provide an historic 3 month profile of drug use or abstinence.