Can you drink alcohol while detoxing for a drug test? Of course, you can do this. You can do anything you want. However, adding more drugs on top of other drugs in your system while waiting for a drug test isn’t very smart.
In most cases, your wait for a drug test won’t be a long one. Employers and law enforcement use the random-test system and typically provide no more than 24 hours’ notice. Failure to appear for the test is treated the same as a dirty test. This short notice time doesn’t leave you with many options. Even alcohol, generally the fastest to leave the system, can still be detected by a urine test within 24 hours of consumption.
Facts about Drug Tests
Drug tests typically look for metabolites. These are compounds formed when drugs are broken down by the body. All drug tests, no matter how sensitive, have what is called a threshold. This means it can only detect drugs’ metabolites at certain levels in the urine. So, a clean result never necesaarily means that drugs weren’t present in the sample. It just means they were not at detectable levels as set by that particular facility. Of course, it could also mean that no drugs were present at all, but these tests cannot typically make that guarantee. This is why the best way to pass a urine drug test is to wait it out. Drugs exit the system at fairly predictable rates:
- Opioids: 1 to 2 days (except for methadone and buprenorphine)
- Amphetamines: 2 to 3 days
- Cannabis: 3 to 30 days
- Banzodiazepines: 3 to 14 days
- Cocaine: 2 to 10 days
The wide range of elimination time for some of these drugs is due to the fact that not everyone metabolizes drugs in the same way and also reflects the level of usage. For example, someone who smokes cannabis on a regular basis will take longer to fall below the threshold than an occasional user will. Most opioids don’t hang around for long, perhaps 72 hours at the very most, but because methadone and buprenorphine have very long half-lives, they stick around for much longer. People who take these particular drugs tend to be chronic users as well, further extending the detetection time of these substances. A half-life is the period of time it takes for the body to eliminate half of the ingested dose.
The wide range of benzodiazepine detection is the result of the different half-lives of different benzos. Xanax may be eliminated much more quickly than diazepam, which can remain at detectable levels for as long as two weeks from the last dose in certain individuals.
What are Cleansing Kits?
These are products sold to help you pass a urine drug test with drugs still in your system. These products mostly use the principle of dilution and are hit and miss at best. It is possible to dilute the urine by drinking large amounts of fluids, but if you do, this will change the chemical composition of the urine. One of these changes is called specific gravity, and drug labs check for this. Cleansing kits use the principle of dilution and attempt to fool the lab by adding in certain components of urine altered by drinking large amounts of fluid. There are even mouthwashes to temporarily trick an oral swab drug test. The fact is, the body can only genuinely eliminate a drug at a certain rate and no faster. Drinking alcohol or using other drugs will only add in more toxins and perhaps slow the process even more.
Of course, there are other ways to pass a drug test, such as using someone else’s clean urine or by purchasing either synthetic or real urine. These products are sold by generally shady companies who products are designed to pass a urine drug test even when the person has drugs in their system. These products are not illegal to buy or sell in themselves. There is even a contraption you can buy that uses a bag and a cathether, or thin tube, to pass a drug test even while under direct supervision. That’s what the manufacturer claims, but actually using such a device without detection would be incredibly hard, unless you happen to be a sleight-of-hand magician.
We Can Help
The best way to pass a drug test is to be clean in the first place. We can help you find a great detox or rehab in your area. Just call our professional drug counselors anytime at 302-842-2390. We’re here to help.
