Are you required to take a drug test and are worried because you recently ingested cannabis? Or, you have applied for that dream job, and the employer has requested a drug test. You don’t want to miss this opportunity yet annoyingly, many US employers are making drug tests mandatory as part of the recruitment process. As a cannabis user, you have some unanswered questions: How long does weed stay in your system? How long do edibles stay in your body? How to pass a drug test? How to detox from weed?
Don’t worry because you have landed at the right place. There are ways to continue enjoying cannabis and still pass a drug test. In this article, we will discuss different drug tests for cannabis, the common mistakes you should avoid and natural THC detoxification methods to help you pass a drug test.
Now if you’re going to appear for a drug test anytime soon, consider a suitable detox method to help you cleanse your body of THC and its metabolites.
How long does weed stay in your system?
Generally, some drug tests can detect THC up to 90 days following ingestion or inhalation. However, the following various factors affect the number of days weed stays in the body system:
One of the factors that influence the weed detection window is the amount of weed you ingest or smoke marijuana. Generally, higher doses of marijuana are associated with longer detection periods.
The other factor that affects the detection times is how often you smoke or ingest marijuana. If you smoke more frequently, the weed detection window will be longer than for those who smoke or ingest infrequently. If you take cannabis edibles every day, you may want to abstain for as long as a month to have the drug out of your system. For daily users of cannabis, the drug can be detected for several months after it was last used. As said earlier, the longest detection time is 90 days. On the other hand, if you just smoked once, the cannabis may be out of your body system in a few days.
The route of administration also affects cannabis detection time. Conversely, eating or vaporizing cannabis causes blood and urine levels of THC to rise slower than smoking. But when you eat cannabis edibles or use a vaporizer, the THC dose will be more concentrated than when you smoke it. This is because during smoking, approximately 50 percent of THC content is destroyed by heat, and some is lost in the side smoke. As such, while THC levels surge quickly when you smoke, they will leave quickly too.
Lastly, body fat influences the window period for detecting THC in your system. THC is stored in the adipose tissue. Therefore, if you possess a large number of fat cells, you can store more THC. Moreover, if you all of a sudden start burning a lot of fat, you can experience a surge in THC in your urine and blood.
How long do edibles stay in your system?
The active ingredients of marijuana and its broken down products can remain in your system between a few hours to 90 days, depending on the factors mentioned above.
So all in all, there is no definitive answer to the commonly asked ‘how long does weed stay in your system’ as multiple factors work collaboratively to determine the length of period marijuana stays in the system.
How cannabis is detected in drug tests? And how to pass a drug test?
Cannabis can be detected through various tests: urine, hair follicles, saliva, and blood tests. Let’s look into each of these tests and learn how to beat them.
Urine drug test
This is the most common drug test used to detect cannabis in your system. Cannabis compounds are excreted in the urine for a period of up to 30 days. Generally, marijuana leaves urine at a slower pace compared to saliva. However, it leaves your urine at a faster rate than hair, but this is the same rate it leaves your blood. When you consume cannabis, THC gets stored in your fat cells, which then gets poured into the circulation. Ultimately, the THC gets into the urine, making marijuana identifiable in your urine.
The Mayo Clinic Proceedings indicate that cannabis is detectable in urine for the following period after use:
- Those who ingest or smoke occasionally (a maximum of three times a week): 3 days
- Moderate consumers (up to four times a week): Between 5 and 7 days
- Chronic users (consume daily): Between 10 and 15 days
- Chronic heavy users (consume daily multiple times each day): over 30 days
Can you beat a urine drug test?
Dilution is believed to be the most effective method for preparing your system for a urine test. A decent dilution regimen entails swallowing b-vitamins, electrolytes and creatine two hours before a urine drug test is conducted. Taking these two hours before the tests will be adequate to have them out of the system because drug testers will be looking out for these to rule out a diluted sample.
Avoid this common mistake:
It is essential to note that this method does not quicken the removal of cannabis from your system. On the contrary, dilution simply weakens the drug metabolites in urine, making them less evident. A study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine concluded that the presence of creatinine in diluted urine was an indication that urine dilution is a deliberate action to beat a drug test.
As such, drug testers are aware of people’s deliberate use of b-vitamins, electrolytes, and creatine to compromise the integrity of a pee drug testing.
You, therefore, need to dilute your urine well in advance to ensure the agents are out of your system before you get tested.
Hair follicle drug test
Cannabis will typically be detected on a drug test of the hair follicle up to 90 days after your last usage. While we talk about the hair follicle test, the follicle is not included in the test because it remains on the scalp. However, your hair will be clipped at the scalp and the initial 1.5 inches tested. The testers will examine your hair shaft because drug residues are deposited inside the cuticle.
What is the logic behind the 1.5 inches? After using marijuana, THC will reach your hair follicles the same day through small blood vessels, and some trace amounts will remain in the hair. As your hair grows, the new length will contain THC. Given that hair grows about 0.5 inches a month, the hair with detectable THC for three months should be 1.5 inches. Therefore, taking a 1.5 inch piece of hair close to the scalp can help establish the window of using weed for the previous three months.
Can you beat a hair follicle drug test?
Beating a hair test can be quite difficult because any drugs you take to try to compromise the integrity of the test can be detected for up to 90 days before the drug test. You can only beat it if you take the agents more than 90 days before the test. However, a study evaluating different detox shampoos established that some of these products have heavy washout effects. The study concluded that while beating a hair follicle test was challenging, it is still achievable.
Saliva drug test
Saliva has the shortest window of detection. Generally, several drugs cannot be detected in saliva after 24 hours of last use. A 2014 review established that the detection window on oral fluid following the last use of cannabis is as follows:
- Occasional consumers – 1 to 3 days
- Chronic consumers: 1 to 29 days
Marijuana may enter your saliva through smoking, ingesting, or exposure to weed smoke. However, cannabis metabolites are only detectable if you ingest or smoke it.
Can you beat a saliva drug test?
Given the short window of detecting marijuana in saliva, you only need to cease using it for a few days before the test, and you will beat the test.
Blood test
Weed can be detected in a blood test for up to 30 days following your last use. However, it can be detected at extremely low levels, and sometimes it may not be detected. Marijuana causes a surge in your blood levels and can only be detected in your bloodstream about six hours after consumption. It is metabolized and distributed to the tissues, some of the cannabis is reabsorbed into the bloodstream and broken down. The metabolites may then remain in the blood for several days.
Can a blood test be beaten?
Blood tests are extremely difficult to beat. Why? Because it is pretty difficult to add any agent or substance to your blood. Nonetheless, you may not need to make an effort to beat this test because levels of THC in blood only remain high for approximately 6 hours after consumption. After six hours, there is just a slow trickle of cannabis in the blood, and the small amounts end up in the urine.
In urine, it can be detected easily because it is concentrated in just a few ounces of fluid. However, in blood, it is diluted in several gallons of blood, making it unlikely to be detected.
As you have seen, it may be quite difficult to beat these drugs through dilution. Therefore, you may need to consider detoxifying because it will help you get the THC out of your system.
The best natural ways to detox from weed
How to detox from weed? The best natural ways
Learning how to detox from weed naturally will help you get rid of THC from your system without worrying about side effects. Some of the best ways to detoxify naturally are:
– Drinking a lot of water
– Cutting back on refined carbohydrates
– Doing intermittent fasting
– Adding exercise to your daily program
– Taking herbs that will enhance metabolism speed such as St. John’s Wort, Panax Ginseng, and Ginkgo Biloba (Warning: Never combine these herbs because they can cause considerable side effects)
– Taking activated charcoal
– Taking wheat bran (Increasing the amounts of wheat bran would increase absorption)
The benefits of flushing weeds out of your system
Here are what detoxing would do in removing all the THC from your body:
- Enhances the release of weed from your fat cells
- Increases THC metabolism in the liver to increase the amount to be excreted
- Bocks tubular reabsorption, preventing THC from being reabsorbed into the blood
- Blocks enterohepatic circulation, preventing THC from being reabsorbed into the bloodstream from the intestines and enhancing excretion of more THC in feces
Final thought
As you can see, you can beat drug tests if you have been using marijuana. If you have a pending test, consider these options and choose what works for you!
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