Prescription drug abuse is becoming a major problem next only to marijuana abuse. One of the main reasons for the growth of prescription drug abuse is the easy availability of the medications over the counter from a drug store, from a doctor or through online pharmaceuticals. It is becoming easier mainly to youngsters to access narcotic medications like tranquilizers and stimulants, in which the abuse is rapidly growing. Some of the facts about prescription drug abuse are as follows-

• A considerable number of people are abusing prescription drugs. According to National Institute of Drug Abuse, an estimated 48 million people (20%) who are aged 12 and above of US population have used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes or reasons.

• According to SAMSHA, non-medical use of prescription-type drugs among young adults increased from 5.4 percent in 2002 to 6.4 percent in 2006. This was primarily due to an increase in the rate of pain relievers’ usage, which was 4.1 percent in 2002 and 4.9 percent in 2006.

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A drug test is a technical examination of urine, semen, blood, sweat or oral fluid samples to determine the presence or absence of specified drugs. Drug testing kits are efficient and effective at screening drug use. Most of the companies are getting all the tests approved from FDA and strictly adhere to SAMSHA cut off levels for drug detection. The tests have remarkable accuracy of 95% to 98%, which you can get better results. Drug testing kit is a self test product which you can use at your home.

Benefits:
There are many benefits of using drug testing kits instead of getting tested at traditional laboratories, which are as follows-

• Drug testing kit avoids the trouble of visiting clinics and saves time from waiting for a long time for reports.

• Test kits are designed such that the testing procedures are very simple.

• It is easy to use without requiring help from anyone.

• It provides quick and accurate results.

• It can be purchased through internet or phone call.

• Test kits are delivered at your door steps.

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Athlete drug testing is performed at various levels from school athletes to Olympic games. These drug tests are conducted to identify the drug abuse of the athletes and put them off. Athlete drug testing has strict principles that restrict the drug abused athletes from the competition. This has forced the athletes to avoid all the banned substances. These tests will be confirmed with GC/MS (Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry) method, which detects various chemical features of the drug substances.

Why Athlete Drug Testing

In view to deter the illicit drug abuse there are certain reasons for setting up the athlete drug testing. The following are some of them:

• Restrict And Deter Drug Use: Athlete drug testing detects the drug abuse of the participants. It can put them off and restrict from future abuse. It provides certain educational and awareness programs for their welfare.

• To Avoid Unfair Competition: The drug-abused athletes have an unfair competitive advantage of improved performance. Athlete drug testing process takes required measures to stop violating the principles of athletics. It is an ideal solution for examining the drug usage, which preserves the competition from unfair practices.

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Many types of drug testing techniques are available for detecting drug abuse. Urinalysis is one of the most commonly used urine based drug testing as it is a simple technique, and less expensive. Urine drug testing has been popular and employed successfully for testing drugs across the organizations, schools, at home etc.

Drugs tested
Laboratory urine drug testing detects the presence of many drugs with accurate results. This drug testing can detect maximum of 10 most commonly used drugs at once. It detects the parent drug or its metabolites by demonstrating recent use of prescription medications like opioids, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, barbiturates and illegal substances like heroin, illicit cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine (PCP). This test is used as a screening tool to determine the prior use and concentrations of drugs present in the body.

Procedure followed
For laboratory urine drug test, collection and testing urine specimen is done under the presence of an authorized person. After this, tests are conducted on collected specimen for detection of drug tests by immunoassay screen followed by GS-MS confirmation test. Chemical highlighted test strip is used for this test. The test strip should be examined carefully with the help of lab testing devices depending upon the types of substances to be detected.

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An examination of specimen to detect specific drug presence or to determine prior drug abuse is known as drug test. Several methods have been developed to trace drug presence. Among those Hair and Saliva drug testing methods have emerged rapidly and accepted widely throughout the world.

Characteristics Of Hair Drug Testing And Saliva Drug Testing

Hair drug testing method is usually preferred in forensic studies due to its highly accurate results and many organizations use hair drug testing to find drug abuse for longer periods. Saliva drug testing is used in businesses, schools and in sports as results can be obtained immediately and due to its portability.

Hair drug testing and Saliva drug testing methods, both are donor friendly and difficult to adulterate. However, they have specific characteristics in respect of applications of usage.

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Drug tests are conducted to find out whether a person has abused illicit drugs or not. Drug tests are increasingly becoming compulsory at many work places. People always look towards the ways to pass the drug tests. They may look at a household product or homemade solutions, or whether they need to go through a Napolitano newborn’s screening. Drug tests are now a norm particularly when seeking employment. Often, if a person does not clear the drug testing it can lead to disqualifying for a job.

What are the Methods for Testing the Drug Abuse?

There are four primary types of testing the drug abuse by taking the samples: Urine, Hair, Saliva, and Blood. Most common is the urine test which has the benefit of being inexpensive and less intrusive than the blood test. The following information gives about the methods which are followed by the drug abusers to pass a drug test.

Method #1 – Urine Tests

· They are the least expensive of the test methods

· They can be done at home (for example by parents)

· They detect use primarily within the past week (longer with regular use)

· They can be affected by abstaining from use for a period of time before the test

· They are often temperature tested to insure sample integrity

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Benzodiazepines are a type of anti-anxiety drugs. While anxiety is a normal response to stressful situations, some people have unusually high levels of anxiety that can interfere with everyday life. For these people, benzodiazepines can help bring their feelings under control. Benzodiazepines act on the central nervous system, produce sedation and muscle relaxation, and lower anxiety levels. Benzodiazepines are commonly abused. Benzodiazepines abuse is partially related to the toxic effects that they produce and also to their widespread availability. Death and serious illness rarely result from benzodiazepine abuse alone. However, they are frequently taken with either alcohol or other medications. The combination of benzodiazepines and alcohol can be dangerous.

Causes and Symptoms of Benzodiazepine

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Phencyclidine (phenylcyclohexylpiperidine) commonly initialized as PCP is a disseminative drug, which means that by consuming this drug mind feels separated from the body. PCP was illegally manufactured in labs and sold out in form of tablets from 1950s. According to survey conducted by National Drug Control, more than 187 million children age 12 and older have abused PCP at least once in their past life. PCP abuse causes many negative psychological effects and due to these effects, it was never approved for human use.

Effects of PCP drug abuse
Due to the overdose of PCP, the drug abusers have unpleasant psychological effects. Their behavior will be unpredictable and often violent behavior is associated. Sometimes the abusers can even commit suicide. Under the influence of PCP, the following are the effects on health of drug abuser.

Effects on Brain: The abuse of PCP distorts perceptions of sight, sound and produces feelings of detachment from the environment and from them-selves also. These effects are caused by disruption of the interaction between nerve cells and neurotransmitter serotonin. This is distributed throughout the perceptual and regulatory system, results in changes in mood, increases the hunger and body temperature etc.

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Urine drug testing is the most commonly used and federally mandated method of drug testing. This is used both as on-site tests and for laboratory analysis. It is said to be one of the most economical testing method with lower maintenance cost, yet often said to be with lower effectiveness.

Pros and Cons of Urine Drug testing

As in the case of all other drug-testing methods, Urine testing also has some benefits and drawbacks. It is also one of the most controversial methods. Inexpensiveness, easy to perform, and providing reliable results are some of the benefits of this type of tests. High levels of invasiveness and high potential of adulteration are some drawbacks. The following are some benefits and drawbacks of this method.

Benefits

Urinalysis is one of the economical methods available to test people for drug abuse. Its least expensiveness made it popular with various organizations. It can detect the abuse of more than five to twelve drugs at a time. The drugs, which can be detected using urinalysis, include cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, morphine, benzodiazepines, alcohol, hydromorphone, tetrahydrocannabinol, propoxyphene, methadone, codeine, and barbiturates.

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