[Fat Albert]

1) How much were you smoking a day when you quit?

2) How long did you stop for before your urinalysis (non-DOT)?

3) Did you pass?

I'm on my sixth day of not smoking, with about 2-3 weeks before my test, and I don't feel like doctoring my urine/taking any products....I want to have a legitimate pass.

Cheers!
Fat A

[hamstring]

Hey Hey Hey

Other things come into play.

How old you are.
Your weight and physical condition.
Are you exercising?

I have been a 3times/week smoker for years and I have passed several urinalysis tests but always with help from cleansing agents. I would guess if you quit smoking completely and are fairly fit with in the 3-week time frame you should be able to pass with no worries.
If you do not want to use a cleansing agent then you should consider cranberry juice and/or lots of water. In my opinion with this 3-week time frame it should be a no brainier. I wish I had that kind of time between my tests. Most were two days or less.

PEACE

[Sleepy]

daily usage here...stopped for 2 weeks, and cheated once.

passed no problem.

it was for a new non-smoking life insurance policy. they seemed to be more concerned with the tobacco, cocaine, and amphetamines, but they tested my fluids for everything.

good luck, fat.

[CantBe2High]

I was smoking just a few times a week, searching for jobs, my wife was telling me to stop, dry out, I told her testing is rare in my field of work. I also am fairly thin with a pretty good metabolism.

Well, wouldn't you know it, I got an interview and in the info I was informed a pre-employment drug test would be required if I got an offer. The interview was a week off, and usually offers take a week or two to put together in my field, but I was worried -- it was a great sounding job, and my wife was in that EVER so annoying "I told you so mode." I did lots of research, found studies on typical times to get it out of your system and such. Something like 80% of people will be clean in 5 days, I read.

So, of course I stopped immediately. I also got some pot tests at Walgreens, at the suggestion of something I read in some forum. We were also in the process of moving. My last toke was a Wednesday, learned about the interview Thursday. We were packing up stuff, doing lots of physical labor, and doing a cross country move. In any event, the following Monday (about 4-5 days of not smoking) I took the first Walgreens piss test and it was clean. I did get the job, passed the piss test (it ended up being a whole 3 weeks later). I did drink plenty of water the day of the test just to be sure, but I had been taking the Walgreens test weekly and it was clean every time. Ironically, the employer I work for ended up stopping the tests a couple months after I started.

In my research, I found a study that says for MOST people 3-5 days is enough. Overweight, low metabolism people can take as long as a month. But most testing uses the exact same technology as what you can try yourself at Walgreens. If you pass that, just try to have peace of mind.

[Fat Albert]

Thanks to all for the helpful input!

I'm 29, 6'1", 180 lbs., and have always been on the thin side, despite having eaten little but trash the past ten years. I've been a daily smoker for the past ten years. In addition to not smoking for the past six days, I've spent 20 minutes to half an hour a day on the treadmill, getting my heart rate up into the aerobic zone. I'm hoping that anything left in my fatty tissues gets metabolized over this time period.

As for not cheating: it's not that I have some kind of moral issue with that. I just want to be able to take the test without having to do any nonsense or having to worry about whether or not it works. And to be perfectly honest, I'm enjoying the break from smoking. The combination of not smoking and exercising has boosted my energy level considerably, and I've wanted to take a break for some time now. This job has given me the impetus to do so, since it's so much easier to lay off the smoking when one has a clear-cut goal for doing so.

I'd love to hear anybody else's feedback on this issue....

Cheers!
Fat A

[Fat Albert]

Originally Posted by CantBe2High

In my research, I found a study that says for MOST people 3-5 days is enough. But most testing uses the exact same technology as what you can try yourself at Walgreens. If you pass that, just try to have peace of mind.

So the "I'm-afraid-my-kid-is-a-junkie-so-I'll-piss-test-him"-type home drug tests are reasonably reliable/accurate? I'd definitely be interested in seeing what my result is on one of these tests.

Today is day 7, and I feel GREAT!

Fat A

[JJScorpio]

I hate to break the bad news to you but it's better you know. If you're test is in 2 more weeks you could be in trouble. For some people it can take up to 6 weeks but the average is 30 days to clean your system for a urine test. If you're test is criminal related and a pos test could hurt you you'd better look into doing something.

I posted some info in another thread here and I'll see if I can find it....

[Fat Albert]

Thanks, JJ.

As of now my test is at least two weeks away, and I've got a week under my belt. Thankfully it's nothing criminal-related. However, I remember seeing information recently about how the 30-day conventional wisdom no longer holds with the newer methods of testing, and that the detection window actually went down.

If I have to cheat, I cheat. I was just trying to avoid doing so.

Any more information that you could scratch up would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!
Fat A

[Fat Albert]

Marijuana Detection Time Shorter Than Previously Assumed

February 23, 2006 - Columbia, MO, USA

Columbia, MO: The length of time cannabis metabolites may be detected, on average, on a standard urine screen is typically no longer than ten days for chronic users and between 3-4 days for infrequent users, according to a literature review published in the current issue of the journal Drug Court Review.

"Recent scientific literature indicates that it is uncommon for occasional marijuana smokers to test positive for cannabinoid [metabolites] in urine for longer than seven days" at 20 ng/ml or above on the EMIT (Enzyme Multiplied Immunoassay Technique) test, the author concludes. "Following smoking cessation, chronic smokers would not be expected to remain positive for longer than 21 days, even when using the 20 ng/ml cannabinoid cutoff."

When tested at the 50 ng/ml cutoff threshold, infrequent users typically test negative for the presence of marijuana metabolites within 3-4 days, while heavy users typically test negative by ten days after ceasing use, the study found.

While several clinical trials from the 1980's found cannabis metabolites to be identifiable in the urine at low concentrations for longer periods of time, particularly in heavy users, the author suggests that more advanced drug-testing technology has narrowed this window of detection.

"As cannabinoid screening tests evolved, these improved assays became more selective in the manner in which they detected marijuana metabolites," the author writes. "As detection specificity increased, the length of time cannabinoids were being detected in urine decreased. ... Therefore, the results of cannabinoid elimination investigations performed in the 1980's may no longer be applicable to estimating the detection window for marijuana in urine using today¹s testing methodologies."

After reviewing data from more recent clinical investigations of chronic marijuana smokers, the author reports that the "average detection window for cannabinoids in urine at the lowest cutoff concentration of 20 ng/ml was just 14 days." However, the author also notes that a minority of subjects continue to test positive for cannabis metabolites after 28 days, even when tested by more advanced drug-testing technology.

Approximately 55 million drug screens are performed annually in the United States. The majority of these are workplace urinalysis tests, which detect the presence of drug metabolites (inert byproducts produced after a substance is metabolized by the body), but not the substance itself. Consequently, the US Department of Justice affirms that a positive drug test result for the presence of a drug metabolite "does not indicate ... recency, frequency, or amount of use; or impairment."

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "The marijuana detection window: Determining the length of time cannabinoids will remain detectable in urine following smoking," is available online at: https://www.ncdi.org/ndcirpub.html

Fat A

[CantBe2High]

Yep FatAlbert, that was the exact article I found in my research. It set my mind at ease, but taking my own test set it at ease even more. Just about $10 a test from Wallgreens if I recall. Its interesting that the older tests did show it up for longer, but the newer tests are "more accurate" in that they show short term exposure -- which is really the intent of pre-employment testing. if you can't pass a piss test with a few weeks warning, you really do have a drug problem (although I do agree weed does have medical benefits).

About 6 years ago I was watching TV with the kids, and an add for a drug testing kit came on. My 15 year old son listened, and then looked at me in a puzzled way, and say "why would you need a drug test kit, wouldn't you know if you took drugs?" Of course the intent of that add was really to test your teens, but this posting indicates another reason -- yes, you know, but you want to be sure you pass!

Was nice when he was young and naive. His older brother turned out to be the pot head of the family though, he blames me though as I exposed him to massive quantities of 70's progressive rock during his formative years. At least when he was in college he was my hookup, but now he has graduated, is overseas, and I really have to grow my own to get a solid supply, but my wife is a tough tough sell.