Screening of drugs and alcohol is done by collecting as well as analysing biological samples like blood, saliva, urine or breath. It takes seconds to some minutes to analyse a sample which would do the proper detection of drugs or alcohol or any kind of metabolites in the sample.
Metabolites are regarded as the intermediates as well as products of metabolism. For drug and alcohol testing metabolites are also examined followed by the parent drug since metabolites constitutes a detection window in urine for a few days. On the other hand, some kind of drug constitutes a detection window in urine what’s life for some hours only.
What does the presence of metabolites indicate?
The presence of metabolites of drugs as well as alcohol gives us the indication that the tested substance has been consumed by the user. Since some employers prohibit the consumption of drugs and by undertaking drug and alcohol testing it would determine if an individual is fit for working and performing their respective duties or not.
After taking the test, the required biological samples are taken to a laboratory for examining further. This stage is also regarded as confirmation. Confirmation provides us with knowledge about either the original level of a drug or its particular metabolites in the collected sample. It also makes us ware whether the drug is being consumed recreationally or therapeutically.
How the detection test is further examined?
The test is undertaken with the help of testing samples of urine and saliva by applying two techniques regarded as Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) or Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). GC-MS is known as the gold standard for identifying the presence of any forensic substance but modern technology widely uses LC-MS. This is due to it being more convenient than the former and it also consumes less time for preparation and analysing the samples and delivering the results accordingly.
