Quest Diagnostics Guide: Pre-Employment, Cut-Off Levels, Types Of Panel Drug Test & Avoiding Detection
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Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp are the two biggest drug testing companies in the USA. But the truth is that anything which applies to them also applies to any drug testing company. In this guide, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about Quest Diagnostics (and by default all types of drug testing out there).
The type of drug tests that are done, drug detection times, cut-off levels, and how things work when you go for drug test, with a particular focus on pre-employment drug testing.
Plus, I’ll talk you through the ways that you can avoid detecting the urine, mouth swab, and hair drug tests from Quest or anyone else.
The Different Types Of Panel Drug Test Quest Diagnostics Use
Let’s talk about panel drug testing first, to clear up any confusion. The most detailed type of test done is the Quest Diagnostics 10 panel drug test. That’s ordinarily. There is a 12 panel test that can be commissioned, but that looks for unusual substances.
Plus, although people may talk about a 10 panel drug test, what’s on those 10 panels (the substances that can be detected) varies.
Although there is a standard 10-panel drug test, the person commissioning the test can remove and change some of the panels to look for the types of supplements they are interested in keeping out of their company or organization.
The most basic type of test is the five-panel drug test. However, in many circumstances now that’s been replaced by a four-panel test because companies don’t bother checking for the presence of marijuana due to its increasing legalization and public acceptance.
Quest Diagnostics Drug Test Cut-Off Levels
When it comes to telling you about the Quest Diagnostics drug test cut-off levels, it’s a tough thing to answer.
The problem is that cut-off levels aren’t standard. Although there will be recommended ones for standard testing, they can vary between companies, and even between types of tests commissioned.
Plus, the people commissioning the test can choose their own cut-off level. So the severity of what can be detected (level of drug metabolites in the body) can be altered depending on how much the company wants to eradicate anyone who’s taken any level of drug in the previous week or so.
These are (as far as I can tell) the industry-standard drug test cut-off levels:
- Amphetamine 150 ng/mL
- Cocaine metabolites 15 ng/mL
- Marijuana 3 ng/mL
- Methamphetamines 120 ng/mL
- Opiates 30 ng/mL
- Oxycodones 30 ng/mL
- Phencyclidine (PCP) 3 ng/mL
But, please don’t get hung up on cut-off levels. If you’re using a home drug test kit then the cut-off levels will be far higher than most professionally commissioned tests, so even though you might test clean at home, two hours later you could well fail.
How Long Can Quest And Other Companies Detect Drugs In The Body?
What’s far more important than cut-off levels is to understand roughly how long the drug metabolites stay in your body.
The problem is that everyone is different. One person could take the same amount of the drug as another, over the same amount of time, and test positive hours, maybe days after another test negative.
My big warning here is cannabis. If you’re an occasional smoker then in urine and saliva you will be clean after a few days. Maybe a week at most.
However, if you smoke several joints per day, every day, then those toxins build up in your body and attach to cells in the body. It’s something to do with the shape of cannabis metabolites. People have tested positive for cannabis use literally weeks after their last joint. If this sounds like you, then you need to be aware of it.
Generally though, if you are a light user (recreational once or twice per week moderate dosage), then these are the sort of drug detection times in urine at you’re looking at:
- Amphetamines 2 days
- Benzos 2 days
- Cannabis 3 days
- Cocaine 3 days
- Opioids 3 days
- Methadone 3 days
Note that these are typical times, not the final word. Methadone is often detectable for up to 7 days in urine, for example.
Also the type of benzodiazepines you take matters. Slow-release benzos can be detected for up to 30 days, and intermediate ones usually up to 10 days.
In saliva, 48 hours is usually enough to clear everything. For cocaine, it can actually be as little as 12 hours if you are a moderate user.
Which Is The Most Dangerous Type Of Drug Test?
People ask which are the most dangerous type of drug tests to face is. It depends on what your criteria is the danger. If it’s your risk of being detected for literally any drug use over the past several weeks, then the hair drug test is definitely the most potent.
If it’s the risk of getting caught by facing a drug test basically zero notice, then the saliva drug test is the riskiest to face.
But for all-around danger, in terms of the time after use, you can be detectable, and the speed at which you could face one, a urine sample drug test is still the overall most risky to face.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a Quest Diagnostics 10-panel drug test, or somewhere else, the bottom line is if you are facing a urine sample drug test within three or four days of your last drug use, or a saliva test within 48 hours of the last drug use, then you will probably test positive.
How To Pass A Quest Diagnostics 10 Panel Drug Test (Or Any other) Easily
The most common type of drug test is Quest Diagnostics pre-employment drug test. That’s also the same for other drug testing companies.
Pre-employment is the time when most people have to be drug tested as standard. Although there are more and more companies not drug testing, or skipping on some substances, they really do want to make sure that they are hiring clean (even if they turn a blind eye to it after employment because it’s expensive to train and then sack people).
For pre-employment drug testing you will most likely face a urine sample drug test. However, especially in remote areas away from cities where there are less permanent drug testing locations, and where it would be expensive for a drug company rep to travel, then mouth swab drug tests administered by people on the premises who have been trained is most likely.
You are unlikely to face a hair drug test unless it’s a federal job, a highly paid job, a sensitive industry, or a traditionally conservative employer. If you do face one, then you will get caught if you’ve taken any substance in the previous 30 days.
If you’re facing a urine drug test then synthetic urine is definitely the easiest way to pass.
But you can’t just pick any old type of fake urine. Most of them don’t have the complexity and don’t even look like real urine.
Plus, most of them contain biocide, an artificial preservatives used in the creation of many products. Its rumored drug testing labs now look for its presence to rule out huge numbers of fake samples.
Sub Solution is the brand I would recommend. It contains 14 chemicals found in urine, looks, smells, and froth like urine, and doesn’t contain biocide. For a detailed review of Sub Solution click here.
You can purchase it straight from the manufacturer for $80.
If you don’t want to use fake urine, or it’s a supervised drug test where somebody will be directly or indirectly observing you, then detox drinks are the only way forward.
You will need a high-quality one like Rescue Cleanse and Mega clean. Most of the others are simply flavored water that doesn’t do anything.
A good quality detox drink will flush out the toxins in your kidneys, bladder, and urinary tract. More than that, it will flood the body with things found in urine so that some is passed through as waste into your bladder, therefore keeping your urine balance natural.
However, detox drinks will only last until fresh toxins are worked through your body. This usually takes three or four hours, so detox drinks are limited in duration. The price of Rescue Cleanse 32Oz is $55 and a bottle of Mega Clean with pre rid pills is $69.
- Saliva Neutralizing Gum And Mouthwash
If you’re facing an oral drug test and your first line of defense is to do some home remedies like brushing your teeth and gums frequently, and using a good quality mouthwash frequently as well. However, that’s not a substitute for Oral Clear. It’s saliva neutralizing gum, or rather a capsule of liquid, that’s highly concentrated.
Pop it between your teeth, swill the liquid around and work it into the gum line with your tongue, and then you swallow the lot so it’s undetectable. Oral Clear will keep your saliva neutralized for up to 30 minutes.
Toxin Rid Rescue Wash is an alternative. It’s saliva neutralizing mouthwash in a small bottle. The downside is that you will need to be out of sight to use it, because there’s too much liquid to swallow, and you will have to get rid of the bottle. But it is about one-third of the price of Oral Clear.
- Passing A Hair Drug Test
Let me be clear, none of the detoxification shampoos on the market will be strong enough to clean out your hair on their own. They just aren’t potent enough. The only way to clean your hair to pass a drug test is to use something called the Macujo method.
The Macujo method uses a blend of household and specialist shampoo products to open up the hard cuticle layer that covers each strand of hair, flush out the toxins, and then shut the cuticles up again.
It’s invasive and you need to do it several times per day in the days leading up to a test to get the hair completely clean, but it is a method that actually works.