For the company seeking an effective and random substance screening process, a swab drug test regimen can be exactly what’s needed. It’s economical, and though it can’t detect absolutely everything, it is reliable and noninvasive, which makes it easy to schedule regularly.
Of the four common exam methods (urine, saliva, hair and blood), testing the hair tends to be the most thorough and can detect substances in a much longer timeframe. While oral fluids are not generally quite as effective, they are much more affordable, and are quick to perform, making them the perfect choice for large businesses that need to screen a lot of people but don’t want to spend a fortune to do it.
A swab drug test can detect benzodiazepines, narcotics, opioids, heroin, amphetamines, methadone, ecstasy, cocaine, barbiturates and alcohol. Saliva exams may have trouble picking up cannabis use. The body absorbs it rather quickly and marijuana usage can evade this method of detection after just a few hours. It can show a false negative, so this isn’t generally the ideal method to use if screening for cannabis is a concern. Other than that though, an oral fluid screen can find just about any other substance needed, and can usually pick up different substances if they have been used within five or so days. Alcohol can be flagged within 24 hours of use, which is around the timeline of most methods.
What this means is that saliva screens are best when done randomly and fairly often. Because its effectiveness tends to dip for anything used more than a week before, it’s fairly easy for most people to avoid detection if they know about the test in advance. However, because it’s inexpensive, it’s quite easy to make this type of screening a regular thing.
