Marijuana Testing Facts

Fact: THC can stay detectable for up to 30 days

The half-life of the THC metabolite (11-nor-delta9 Tetrahydrocannibinol-9-carboxylic acid) varies from person to person. The person's age, weight, body fat and metabolism will vary the length that THC will stay in you system. The half-life is the time is takes for the level of THC to decrease to half of the amount present in your system. This half-life can be as quick as 1 day to as long as 10 days. Example; If you were to smoke marijuana today which resulted in 100 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) of THC in your system and you are thin with a fast metabolism you could have only 50 ng/ml of THC in your system tomorrow.

Fact: Not all drug tests are of the same quality and may not provide accurate reliable results.

On-site tests work by testing your urine sample for a specific drug and then identifying whether there is enough of the substance present to provide a positive result. With a variance of the quality of different tests this amount is not always accurate, resulting in a false positive. We sell only high-quality, Health Canada approved tests. You can be sure you are getting an accurate result from our tests.

Fact: Doping, diluting and altering the urine sample in any way will most likely be detected.

Tests can be configured to detect pH levels, creatinine, nitrites, specific gravity, oxidants and for chemicals. If the sample has been adulterated (altered) it will be flagged to the tester. This may result in a lab ordered test to confirm the results which will put your sample under a much higher level of scrutiny.

Fact: Different tests have different cut-off levels.

Most on-site tests adhere to the 50 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) cut-off level but this is not a requirement or a rule.  But, if the sample is sent to a lab and is GC/MS (Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry) analyzed it could be calibrated to flag a positive for a little as 1 pg/ml (a picogram is 0.001 nanograms). This level of scrutiny will detect any level of THC in your

system. Most of the time though, if you pass the on-site test a follow-up lab test will not be ordered.

Screening Urine at 15 ng/ml vs 50 ng/ml

The Delta 9 metabolite makes up approximately 30% of the total THC metabolites produced when marijuana is used.  This approximate percentage is used to scale the cut-offs at 15 ng/ml.  If the gross metabolites combined are greater than 50 ng/ml then the test will show positive, and 30% of the 50 ng/ml would equal approximately 15 ng/ml.