How to Choose A Marijuana Drug Test

Since marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in America - more than 94 million Americans have tried it at least once according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse - it is no surprise that there are a variety of ways to drug test for marijuana. Each of type of test has a unique selling point. A marijuana drug test can come in one of a few forms: a hair, saliva, or urine drug test.

Choosing the right test requires identifying what you want to learn from the test. One very important aspect of this is knowing the detection window offered by a drug test. This handy chart helps explain. You also need to ask yourself what type of material you'd like to handle for the test. Urine can be a biological hazard, hair may be difficult to collect, and drugs can be detected in saliva for only a relatively short time.

In the workplace, the urine drug test is most common, in part because the hair drug test is so expensive. According to the Ledger's Gary White, hair testing is about 60% more expensive than urine testing for employers. But the most interesting statistic of the article is this one - according to a 2006 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 84% of employers required new hires to pass drug screenings.

This remarkable number suggests the prevalence of drug testing today. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA), a federal agency, has set guidelines for laboratories handling the urine tests of federal employees. For a marijuana drug test, that cutoff level is 50 nanograms per mililiter. If a test is positive at that level, then a confirmatory test is conducted at a smaller, even more precise level.

Home Health Testing offers a number of marijuana drug tests for consumer use that meet the SAMHSA guidelines. These tests include the iCup and the urine stick test. These home drug tests, and more can be purchased at very affordable prices here, Home Health Testing's marijuana related products page.