Accredited Drug Testing provides comprehensive hair follicle drug testing services in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. If you're in need of a drug or alcohol test using hair samples, Accredited Drug Testing is an expert in the field. We have testing hubs across the country, ready to perform hair tests. Typically, you must have 1.5 to 2 inches of hair on your crown, though body hair may suffice. Hair tests can detect drugs, alcohol/ETG, or other tailored options.
Hair follicle testing has become a more common practice for drug detection in recent years. Employers, courts, and Substance Abuse professionals are increasingly mandating hair drug tests over traditional urine tests. Employers with zero-tolerance policies often choose hair follicle tests for their extended detection window of up to 90 days and the difficulty of tampering with such tests. However, urine tests remain the gold standard for identifying recent drug use within the past 5 days.
* You must register by phone or online to receive your donor pass/registration prior to proceeding to the testing center. You must bring a valid government issued ID along with the registration/barcode number which was sent to you by email.
When you're searching for hair drug testing near me or hair drug testing locations, we provide a simple and convenient process to find a drug and alcohol testing location near you that is certified to provide all of your drug and alcohol testing needs.
Hair testing is recognized as a potent means to identify drug and alcohol consumption. Hair traps biomarkers within its strands, offering an extended history of alcohol and drug use. Collected from near the scalp, hair can present a detection range of up to three months for alcohol and drugs. Hair collection is straightforward, resistant to tampering, and simple to transport.
A sample of 1.5 inches consisting of roughly 200 hair strands (akin to the size of a #2 pencil) taken from the scalp yields 100mg, the preferred amount for screening and confirmation. For EtG, additional tests, and/or those beyond 10 panels, 150mg of the sample is advised. Using a jeweler’s scale for weighing the specimen is recommended. If scalp hair is not available, a similar quantity of body hair can be gathered. When mentioning head hair, it specifically means scalp hair. Body hair encompasses all other types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Process Overview
The key steps in laboratory drug test processing are Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning includes the sample's preliminary processing into a lab's system, ensuring it was sealed and shipped correctly, assigning a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completing extra data not covered by an electronic chain of custody system.
Screening is a preliminary scan for drug abuse. Though cost-effective for ruling out drug usage in most samples, a positive result needs confirmation for court admissibility. Presumptive positive samples from Screening need secondary confirmation.
If a sample appears positive at the Screening stage, additional hair is taken for Extraction. This phase extracts drugs from hair at lower concentrations than other methods (e.g., urine or oral fluid), making hair drug screening the most challenging methodology.
Positive screenings are confirmed through GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. Presumptive positives are washed before confirmation. The complete process from Accessioning to Confirmation is reviewed per CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and ISO / IEC 17025 standards accreditation.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Often called "hair follicle tests", the examination targets the hair strand rather than the scalp hair follicle.
Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing in Old Orchard Beach, ME
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