Hair Follicle Drug Testing - Brooklyn Heights, OH

What it is, How it works

Hair testing is regarded as an effective method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. Hair captures a comprehensive timeline of substances by holding biomarkers within the fibers of the hair as it grows. When gathered from near the scalp, hair can offer nearly a 3-month detection timeframe for both alcohol and drugs. It's easy to collect, relatively hard to tamper with, and simple to send.

A sample 1.5 inches long with roughly 200 hair strands, akin to a #2 pencil's thickness, closest to the scalp ensures 100mg of hair, which is optimal for testing and validation. For EtG, additional tests, and tests over 10 panels, 150mg of hair is suggested. A jeweler’s scale is advised for weighing. If scalp hair isn't available, equivalent body hair can be collected. "Head hair" means scalp hair only, while "body hair" includes other hair types (e.g., facial, axillary).

Process Overview

The laboratory processing of a drug test includes four major phases: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.

Accessioning incorporates the sample's initial handling within a laboratory’s system. It verifies the correct sealing and shipping of the sample, assigns a random LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and completes any additional manual data input not covered by electronic chain of custody systems.

Screening involves a preliminary quick assessment for drug presence. While it's a cost-effective method to clear drug absence in many samples, a positive screen needs verification for legal admissibility. Presumptive positive samples from Screening must undergo further confirmation.

For samples that are presumptively positive at the Screening phase, additional hair is extracted from the initial sample for preparation in the Extraction phase. Here, drugs are extracted from hair at much lower concentrations than other methods (e.g., urine, oral fluid), making hair drug testing a complex methodology.

Confirmation of any positive screening outcome uses GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. Prior to confirmation, all presumptive positive samples are washed as necessary. The entire process from Accessioning to Confirmation adheres to both the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair designation and the standards of ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation.

Advantages of hair drug testing:

• Extended detection period: Hair drug tests reveal drug use for up to 90 days, unlike urine tests which have a shorter detection period.
• Hard to manipulate: Cheating a hair drug test is incredibly difficult, enhancing result accuracy.
• Historical insight: It offers a record of drug use over time, not merely recent consumption.

Limitations:

• Cannot identify recent usage: Typically requires 5-7 days post-use for drugs to appear in hair.
• Expense: Hair drug tests often cost more than other drug testing forms.
• Result variance: Aspects like hair color and individual's hair growth can influence metabolite concentrations in hair.

Note: Commonly known as "hair follicle tests", these tests analyze hair strands rather than the scalp's hair follicle.

Why Hair Follicle Testing Beats Urine Testing

In Brooklyn Heights, OH, hair follicle testing surpasses traditional urine analysis by offering enhanced detection accuracy and reliability. With a more extended detection window, hair testing provides a clearer understanding of substance use patterns.

Hair follicle tests offer superior benefits compared to urine tests in Brooklyn Heights, providing more reliable and accurate readings of drug use over a longer time, ensuring effective assessment and decision-making.

Extended Detection Window

Hair follicle testing in Brooklyn Heights, OH, offers an extensive detection period of up to 90 days, enabling employers to gain a complete view of an individual's drug use history. This long-term insight is invaluable for assessing substance use.

By utilizing hair follicle testing in Brooklyn Heights, OH, employers benefit from a prolonged detection window, helping maintain a safe work environment by thoroughly evaluating employee drug consumption histories.

Tamper-Resistant Testing Method

In Brooklyn Heights, OH, hair follicle testing provides a tamper-resistant method, reducing the chances of sample adulteration. This reliability ensures accurate results, giving employers confidence in the testing process.

Hair follicle tests in Brooklyn Heights prevent sample manipulation, ensuring dependable outcomes. This method's resistance to tampering makes it a trusted choice for consistent and reliable drug testing results.

Convenient Nationwide Locations

Accredited Drug Testing provides convenient testing locations in Brooklyn Heights, OH, and throughout the nation. These centers ensure straightforward and accessible services, streamlining the testing process for all clients.

With nationwide and local testing sites in Brooklyn Heights, OH, our drug testing services offer unmatched accessibility, ensuring quick and hassle-free access to reliable testing solutions.

Simple, Confidential Process

In Brooklyn Heights, OH, our hair follicle testing process is straightforward and confidential, easing concerns of privacy and allowing clients to order, undergo testing, and receive results with complete confidentiality and simplicity.

Hair follicle drug tests in Brooklyn Heights, OH, prioritize a confidential and user-friendly process, addressing privacy concerns while ensuring a hassle-free experience from scheduling to result receipt.

Affordable, Fast Turnaround

Offering competitive pricing and rapid results, our hair follicle testing in Brooklyn Heights, OH, provides exceptional value for businesses, ensuring fast turnaround times that meet diverse needs without compromising on quality.

In Brooklyn Heights, OH, Accredited Drug Testing offers affordable hair follicle testing, delivering fast turnaround and competitive pricing, providing businesses with excellent value and peace of mind.

Fast, Accurate, and Reliable Results

In Brooklyn Heights, OH, hair follicle drug testing stands out for its accuracy and speed, quickly identifying substance use. This method provides precise results, with professionals often preferring its reliability for evaluating drug use.

Fast, accurate, and reliable, hair follicle tests in Brooklyn Heights enable quick identification of drug use patterns, ensuring timely insights into substance consumption, and supporting effective decision-making processes.

Compliance and Peace of Mind for Employers

Employers in Brooklyn Heights, OH, benefit from hair follicle testing by ensuring adherence to drug-free workplace policies, enhancing safety, and minimizing legal risks. This method fosters peace of mind through reliable compliance.

Adopting hair follicle testing in Brooklyn Heights assures employers of compliance with drug-free policies, reducing liabilities and promoting a secure work environment while enhancing operational efficiency.

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What's New In Hair Follicle Drug Testing according to the Hair Drug Testing Experts

With its multidisciplinary nature, hair testing brings together researchers, scientists, and experts from various domains to develop innovative techniques, explore new methodologies, and address emerging concerns, responding to the ever-evolving challenges of drug abuse, therapeutic drug monitoring, and environmental exposures to pollutants.

The joint meeting of the Society of Hair Testing (SoHT) and the Italian Group of Forensic Toxicologists (GTFI) was organized in Verona, June 8–10, 2022, and hosted by the Legal Medicine team of the Verona University Hospital, directed by Franco Tagliaro together with Federica Bortolotti and Rossella Gottardo.

It served as a prominent platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration, facilitating groundbreaking advancements in hair testing and analysis. In this special issue of Drug Testing and Analysis, we aim to showcase the remarkable manuscripts presented at this significant event, shedding light on the latest research and highlighting the future directions in this field.

Novel Analytical Techniques: The Verona meeting witnessed the unveiling of cutting-edge analytical techniques, offering enhanced sensitivity, selectivity, and accuracy for drug testing. Remarkable advancements in sample preparation, detection, and identification of drug compounds have been presented. The manuscripts in this section presented novel approaches, such as multianalyte methods and on-line preparation which can enable rapid analysis and improve thorough forensic investigations.

Biomarkers and Pharmacokinetics: The identification and validation of reliable biomarkers and pharmacokinetic studies are fundamental aspects of drug testing and analysis. The impact of hair treatments on the oxidation/decomposition of drugs in hair was also explored, as the long-term fate of drugs incorporated in the keratin matrix. Furthermore, the SoHT meeting in Verona featured research on the identification and quantification of alcohol abuse biomarkers, their stability, and their correlation with exposure and other biomarkers.

Forensic Applications and Interpretation: One of the vital objectives of hair testing is its application in forensic investigations and legal proceedings. The SoHT meeting in Verona emphasized the significance of rigorous interpretation of analytical results and the need for standardized protocols. Manuscripts in this section present advancements in forensic toxicology, and have explored the challenges posed by emerging designer drugs and strategies to combat their proliferation. The pitfalls encountered when the exogenous/endogenous nature of a substance is questioned were presented and discussed. The special issue presents also manuscripts that delve into the ethical implications of drug testing in drug facilitated sexual assaults.

Clinical Applications of hair testing are witnessed by the insight on environmental tobacco smoke exposure, assessed by hair analysis in a population of students and the study of in utero-exposure to drugs of abuse through neonatal hair analysis. Exposure to drugs was also important in cases of child abuse/neglect, when the clinical purpose of hair testing merge with its forensic applications.

The legal framework surrounding hair testing and the achievement of guidelines to ensure fairness, accuracy, and confidentiality in drug testing practices have also been discussed,and the SoHT consensus on general hair testing and testing for drugs of abuse was presented at the meeting and published as a Letter to the Editor.

In conclusion, the special issue of Drug Testing and Analysis, featuring manuscripts from the SoHT–GTFI meeting in Verona 2022, reflects the remarkable advancements achieved in this field. The manuscripts provide valuable insights into novel analytical techniques, biomarkers, pharmacokinetics, forensic applications, and ethical considerations. As we embrace these advancements, we pave the way for a safer, healthier society, where drug testing and analysis serve as powerful tools in protecting public health and maintaining integrity in various sectors. The research presented in this special issue will undoubtedly shape the future of drug testing and analysis, fostering collaboration and inspiring further innovation in this crucial area of scientific inquiry.

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