LabCorp Drug Testing Guide: 9 Panel Test, Reviews, Pre-Employment & How To Pass

LabCorp is the biggest drug testing company in the USA, far ahead of second-placed Quest Diagnostics. That’s why so many people want to know about the details around their 9 panel drug test, and drug testing processes.

What I’m going to do here is explain the different types of panel drug test LabCorp do, and what they test for (including unusual substances like kratom).

I’ll also talk about LabCorp pre-employment drug testing, and what actually happens when you go for a drug test.

Plus, I’m going to cover what you really need to know: how to pass a LabCorp drug test (urine, hair, or saliva) when you know that you have drug metabolites in your body that will be detected.

The Three Types Of Drug Tests You Are Likely To Face

If you’re up for a drug test then these are the three types of drug test you could face:

• Urine drug test
• Hair drug test
• Saliva drug test

Forget about blood tests. If you’re facing one of those, then apart from delaying it so that your body can eradicate the toxins from your blood, there’s no way of evading it.

However, blood testing is very rare, and unless it’s for something like medical intervention or law enforcement purposes then you are unlikely to ever face one.

Urine drug testing is the most popular type of drug test, followed by saliva testing.

Saliva drug testing is more dangerous in the short term because anyone can administer it. If you’re going for a pre-employment drug test, then you could face one on the spot.

So a LabCorp pre-employment drug test doesn’t necessarily happen on a LabCorp site. An employee of the company could go to a pre-employment worker event for example, and do some bulk on the spot saliva testing.

Here’s What Happens When You Go To LabCorp

Let’s say you have been scheduled for a drug test at LabCorp. Let’s say it’s a pre-employment drug test, and after your interview, you were told to attend one in order to progress.

1. When you arrive prior to your appointment, you will need to check-in. This will involve showing some identification to prove that you are the person submitting the sample.
2. LabCorp express is something that big city location. Due to the volume of people, they have an automated check-in system. Your ideas scanned, and a photo taken to show that you are the person submitting the ID as you check-in.
3. However you arrive, eventually, somebody will collect you and take you to where you will submit your sample. You may be searched. They can take a bag, coat, or hat off you, and they can pat you down. They can’t touch you intimately or ask you to remove items of clothing that would leave you naked (but they could, for example, ask you to take off a big jumper or a zip up hooded top).
4. Most drug testing is unsupervised, meaning they will not be in the room with you, or you will be sent behind a screen or into a separate room on your own. If it’s supervised, you will know about this in advance because that requires different legal standards and consent.
5. For a urine test, you will pee into a cup. The cup will have a temperature strip on the side. Within four minutes of handing it over they must record the temperature, and it must read between 90°F and 100°F to be valid.
6. Mouth swab drug testing is slightly different; they will obviously be in the room with you. They will take a swab sample from around the gumline, usually on the bottom of the mouth on the inside where your tongue is. That’s where saliva containing metabolites is most likely to collect.
7. For a LabCorp hair drug test, they will cut the hair sample of several strands from against the scalp. Only a length of hair will actually be tested that equals the most recent 90 days growth.

LabCorp Panel Drug Tests Explained

So what type of drug test could you face, and what is a panel drug test in relation to this?

Whether it’s hair, saliva, or urine testing, it will be a panel drug test. These can be real panels on a physical drug test kit where different impregnated gauze panels will react to different drug metabolites.

Or, it could be a digital analysis so they will be virtual panels, not actual reactive panels on a physical item.

The most basic type of panel drug test is the five-panel drug test. However, that’s now being replaced with an even more basic 4 panel test due to some employers not bothering to look for the presence of cannabis metabolites anymore due to changing social attitudes and legality.

Also, you don’t quite know what will be looked for on the basic drug test. These are variations that are most common on the four and five panel test:

• THC, opiates, PCP, cocaine
• Methadone, oxycodone, ecstasy, benzos
• THC, cocaine, opiates, PCP, benzos
• Cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, PCP, THC

As you can see, there is quite a lot of variation amongst even the basic tests. You cannot judge 100% what will be looked for, no matter how basic or advanced the test.

The most advanced type of standard test is the 10 panel test. Panel tests do exist up to 12, but these contain some unusual substances and are very rarely administered.

In fact, even for the 10 panel test you would have to usually be working for the federal government, law enforcement, or be a medical professional.

This is basically the same for the 9 panel drug test LabCorp administer as well.

9 Panel Drug Test At Labcorp

For the LabCorp 9 panel test, substances on the industry-standard test are:

• Amphetamines
• Barbiturates
• Benzodiazepines
• Cannabinoid
• Cocaine
• Methadone
• Opiates
• Phencyclidine (PCP)
• Propoxyphene
• Ethanol

Remember though, the person or company, commissioning the test can swap out individual panels to look for substances that they are more concerned about. So although this is the industry standard test, you may get slight variations.

Is A LabCorp Pre-Employment Drug Test Different?

There’s actually no difference between a LabCorp pre-employment drug test and any other type of drug test.

The only thing I would say is that for pre-employment drug testing the level of drug test you face is usually tied to the seniority and wage of the job you are going for.

So if you are interviewing for a burger-flipping job then you’ll probably only face a 4 or 5-panel drug test. They really won’t care that much, and they definitely won’t want to pay a lot of money for the drug testing. It’s more of a deterrent, and to weed out anyone who is really deeply unsuitable.

Kratom Drug Test: LabCorp Dangerous Or Not?

Kratom is an unusual substance. I can tell you for a fact that it’s not checked for on any of the standard drug testing out there, including the advanced 12-panel test.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s no danger at LabCorp with kratom and drug testing.

That’s because kratom, especially at higher doses, works as an increasing agonist of all 3 opioid receptors. Although it’s not an opiate, it works in a similar way, and its alkaloids and metabolites are similar in structure.

This means, if you are facing a LabCorp drug test, kratom could show up as a false positive for an opiate. It’s not common but increases the chances significantly.

How To Pass Any Type Of Drug Test At LabCorp

Be aware, LabCorp drug test reviews may not tell you the whole story here, but with my wide experience over several years of having drug test done through employment (and even being involved in arranging drug testing for a company I worked for), these are the methods that will work.

1. Urine drug test

The best way to pass a urine sample drug test is to use fake urine. Clear Choice Sub Solution is the best brand out there in terms of complexity and price.

Sub Solution contains 14 chemicals found in real urine and closely matches what it looks like. Also, uses heat activator powder rather than a heatpad, meaning you don’t have to worry about keeping the sample warm. You simply warm it up just before you need it.

Alternatively, if you can’t, or won’t, use fake urine, then a high-quality detox drink like Rescue Cleanse or Mega Clean will give you a 2-5 hour window during which your urine will be free of toxins and yet still appear balanced and natural.

You can purchase Sub Solution and Rescue Cleanse from Testnegative and Mega Clean with free pre rid pills from Testclear.

2. Oral drug test

For an oral drug test, I would recommend you use an Oral Clear saliva neutralizing gum.

It’s a capsule of concentrated liquid that you pop in your mouth. Swill the liquid around for about 30 seconds and then swallow it. It will neutralize your saliva for up to 15 minutes.

3. Hair drug test

Hair drug tests are very invasive. Each hair grows out of your head has a hard layer on the top of tiny scales that overlap to give it strength and flexibility, called the cuticle layer. As the hair grows out of the head drug toxins get trapped under this layer.

The only way to pass a hair drug test is to open this layer up and flush the toxins out.

This can be achieved by using something called the Macujo method. It’s invasive and use a combo of home and professional products to open up the cuticle layer and flush out the toxins. But it will pass you a LabCorp hair drug test.