Urine| Hair Follicle | Oral Fluid | Blood | ETG
Hair analysis is increasingly regarded as an effective method for identifying drug and alcohol consumption. The hair strand captures biomarkers over time as it grows, providing a prolonged period of data on alcohol and drug exposure. When cut near the scalp, hair can reveal usage patterns over a period extending up to three months for both alcohol and drugs. Collecting hair is straightforward, tampering is challenging, and transportation is simple.
A 1.5-inch section of around 200 hair strands (approximately the thickness of a #2 pencil) nearest to the scalp yields 100mg of hair, which is an optimal amount for both initial testing and verification. For EtG, additional procedures, or tests exceeding 10 panels, a larger sample of 150mg is advised. It’s important to weigh this sample with precision using a jeweler's scale. If scalp hair cannot be provided, the equivalent quantity of body hair can be used. References to head hair imply scalp hair only, while body hair encompasses all other types, like facial and underarm hair.
Process Overview
A drug test evaluation in a laboratory follows these core stages: Accessioning, Screening, Extraction, and Confirmation.
Accessioning is the initial phase of embedding a sample into the lab's workflow. This step ensures the sample is correctly sealed and sent, assigns a unique LAN (Laboratory Accessioning Number), and inputs any ancillary information not included in the electronic chain of custody method.
Screening is a preliminary assessment for illicit substances. Though it is a cost-efficient measure to exclude drug use in most samples, a positive outcome in this phase must be corroborated for legal admissibility. Samples that test positive during Screening require a confirmatory test.
Upon a presumptive positive result during Screening, additional hair is extracted from the initial sample and readied for Extraction. This involves removing drugs from the hair at levels significantly lower compared to other methods (such as urine or saliva testing), which contributes to the complexity of hair drug testing.
Confirmation for any positive result found during Screening is carried out through GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, or LC/MS/MS. Presumptive positive samples undergo a cleansing step before confirmation when necessary. The comprehensive laboratory workflow, from Accessioning to Confirmation, adheres to the CAP (College of American Pathologists) Hair criteria as well as ISO / IEC 17025 accreditation standards.
Advantages of hair drug testing:
Limitations:
Note: Although frequently termed "hair follicle tests", the assessment actually involves analyzing the hair strand rather than the scalp’s hair follicle.
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