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El_Cadejo's avatar

Urine drug tests?

Asked by El_Cadejo (34610points) December 3rd, 2010

Ok so I was thinking about drug tests the other day. Now, it is my understanding that when a drug test is done urine is collected then a reagent is added to the sample and a Immunoassay is done to determine concentration or sometimes in gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for the same reason or as conformation. Now my question is, since both of these work on concentration in the actual sample, would water dilute this out more?

I know of the practice of drinking a lot of water pre testing for the purpose of flushing your system, but is it actually just diluting the sample to the point where it reads much lower than it is?

And if this is the case could one just add water to said sample to dilute it further, or does water bind with the urea or something making this obvious it was done? Is there a certain ratio of water to urea that would make this obvious as well?

Totally unrelated but I just noticed. I got to love how it now asks if the question has been asked before. Good work guys :)

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14 Answers

marinelife's avatar

“Consider the risks of diluting the sample. Dilution is the process of reducing the concentration of drug or drug metabolites in the sample. This is accomplished by adding fluid to the sample. Diluting a sample will lower the specific gravity and creatinine level (creatine is used by muscles and creates a waste product called creatinine). Drug testing laboratories all routinely test samples to detect dilution.[1] If you decide to go this route anyway, be sure to use warm water, as the temperature of the sample is recorded. Most facilities will put you in a room with no sink, and where the toilet water is tinted.”

From WikiHow

trailsillustrated's avatar

you can’t just add water. They test the specific gravity so you can’t just add water. Some tests work if one bolts about a gallon of water, other tests come up as adulterated.

El_Cadejo's avatar

ahhh that makes perfect sense. Didnt even think about that possibility. Thanks guys :)

had no intention of doing it just curious :P

what if you added salts and creatinine to the now diluted sample?

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El_Cadejo's avatar

Im not really curious about cheating the system I suppose, just curious about this particular scenario.

tigress3681's avatar

Yes, water dilutes urine. Sometimes they like to make you retake tests if your urine is too dilute, but hopefully by then it will be cleaner!

beaaach's avatar

You would drown before you could drink enough water to throw off a piss test. Some places put blue dye in the toilet water and tape the sink faucet to prevent dilution. Many of the sample cups have a temp strip , so putting water in with 98.6 degree urine is a punt…...unless you put in the water, close the lid tight, and then piss on the test strip, it shows the max temp, reached, and that is what they check….. Sometimes they have someone physically watch you piss in the cup. If you put a strong chemical, like Drano or Industrial Bleach on your hand, then piss on your hand so that a good bunch of the chemical is rinsed off your hand and mixed with the pee, it will get past the cheaper tests, but most tests can redflag adulterants or fake piss you can buy in head shops. Best way to get a clean test is to lay off the shit for a minute, or keester some clean pee and hope there are no piss patrol on duty…...But a person that can’t lay off the dope usually doesn’t have any friends that are clean.

Xena's avatar

@beaaach – Incorrect. True story: I had a job interview come up right after I smoked weed once, the timing was randomly bad, as I hadn’t smoked for months! I bought one of those detox system thingers that are supposed to help you pass. It required drinking a ton of water before the test, in addition to the pills or whatever it was that I took. The directions also specifically instructed you to eat a high protein meal the night beforehand.

I didn’t heed the ‘high protein meal’ suggestion and ate normally. I probably should have had a porterhouse steak or something because my urine sample came back as ‘diluted’. My understanding is they test for dilution by measuring protein levels in the sample. I was called, it seemed obvious they knew why my urine was diluted, and then they made me come back to re-test. Fortunately, even though I had to take it again, it killed enough time to where I legitimately passed the second time.

El_Cadejo's avatar

@beaaach i agree that those things all can be issues but they arent always. When I took mine I was allowed to go in a normal bathroom by myself and close the door. It took me a good couple min to pee and had to take a shit too so I was in there for a while. They didnt question it or anything and my sample was almost clear as water so really if one wanted to in said scenario they could tamper with the sample. My whole point of the question wasnt the things done with the bathroom and what not but more if the water was the exact temp and everything else, could it work?

spykenij's avatar

You can purchase synthetic urine in many head shops across the country. I would recommend using synthetic because all the drinks have ingredients in them that strip your body of nutrients and other things that are good for you, as well as “bad for you.” The only problem to worry about is getting it to an appropriate temperature, which most of the packs come with a little hand warmer pouch and temperature strip. I know these items work because I have worked in a head shop and all the state employees who want to pass their drug tests, came to me. They even have something called the “Whizzinator” that I would recommend if someone has to watch you go because it comes with a fake schlong. The Whizzinator actually works so well, they were being sued by the federal government because federal employees were passing drug tests with it, so what was said above about head shops, is not completely true. Most places use the standard tests, which do not detect synthetic urine.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Would you happen to know of any reliable piss shippers @spykenij?

spykenij's avatar

If they didn’t watch you go, you don’t need the whole shebang. All you will need is what’s on the following page: http://www.thewhizzinator.com/lifestyle-products/whizz-kit

El_Cadejo's avatar

AGAIN. not looking for a way to cheat the test, just wondering about this particular scenario

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