Drug Tests are unpredictable. Some may clear the drug test despite taking some drugs, while others fail the test even if they keep themselves away from drugs. Considering the former case as a luck or detoxification, the latter one is threatening. This post will discuss false positive drug tests, foods, medications, and daily activities that can lead to false positives and how to fight against the false positives professionally.
What is a False-positive drug test?
A false positive drug test is a drug screening result that comes out positive for one or more drugs even if the person had not consumed the drugs. It is common to get false-positive drug test results. Consuming prescription drugs, foods, and other factors might lead to false-positive drug test results. If you are sure, you are not taking drugs and got false positives, take immediate action and dispute your test result. But how do you know that? Here are some substances that can lead to false-positive drug test results.
Substances that can cause false-positive test results
- Food – Certain food items may lead to false positives. Especially yeast-rich foods can show up positive for alcohol if you test for within hours of consumption. The metabolism of yeast leads to ethanol formation that can show up as false positives. Similarly, granola bars and edibles can show positive for THC as they contain small amounts of hemp seeds and cannabis. Poppy seeds naturally contain morphine and codeine that can show up in your drug test.
- Medications – Nasal congestion medications like Sudafed can show positive for amphetamines or Meth as they contain manufactured AMP. Similarly, Ibuprofen can lead positive for PCP, Marijuana, and Barbiturates in your urine drug test. Efavirenz and Sertraline can show positive for benzos and AMP in your blood test.
- Secondhand Smoking – This might be one of the crucial reasons non-smokers get positive results during the drug test. Ensure that you are not in an enclosed space that could lead to positive results due to passive weed smoking.
- Over-the-Counter Drugs – Sometimes, the over-the-counter drugs might lead to false-positive drug test results. Some cold medications like Nyquil or Dayquil might have brompheniramine that might show positive results for AMP or mAMP in your urine drug test.
How to fight against your false positive drug test result?
If you think you have not consumed any drugs and might have gone through the above circumstances through food, medications, or secondhand smoke, you can fight against your false positives by specific methods.
- Claim a retest – You can claim the tester to conduct a retest or confirmation test to confirm the presence of those illicit drugs in your system. The tester might run the GC/MS test for confirmation using the same sample you provided to confirm the presence of those drugs.
- Disclose the substances you have been taking – Inform the tester about your prescription medications or any other substances that can lead to false positives.
Final words
You need not panic if you get your false positive drug test results. Ensure that you report your tester about the prescription drugs or claim a retest or confirmation test to prove your innocence because your career is on the cards.
