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Last week California Supreme Court ruled that employers can fire workers found to have used medical marijuana even if it was legally recommended by a doctor. 

This particular case went to the state Supreme Court after a Sacramento based telecommunications company, Ragingwire Inc., fired Gary Ross for failing a company-ordered drug test.  Gary argued that he held a medical marijuana card which authorizes him to legally use marijuana to treat a back injury subtained while serving in the airforce.  However, the company still decided to fire him.

Raging Wire Inc. argued that it rightly fired Ross because all marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws of California or the 11 other states.

The court ruled that the so-called Compassionate Use Act (Prop 215) passed by California in 1996 has nothing to do with employment laws.

Justice Kathryn Werdegar stated, “Under California law, an employer may require preemployment drug tests and take illegal drug use into consideration in making employment decisions.”

Some companies argue that they could lose federal contracts and grants if they allow employees to smoke marijuana, even for medicinal purposes.

Ross on the other hand argued that medical marijuana users should receive the same workplace protection from discipline that employees with valid painkiller prescriptions do.

The nonprofit marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, which represents Ross, estimates that 300,000 Americans use medical marijuana. The Oakland-based group said it has received hundreds of employee discrimination complaints in California since it began tracking the issue in 2005. The group will now focus on getting the Legislature to pass a law protecting medical marijuana users in the work place.

Another California Supreme Court Judge, Justice Joyce Kennard said the ruling was “conspicuously lacking in compassion” and “disrespects” the California medical marijuana law. She said employers should be barred from firing workers who use medical marijuana if they perform their jobs adequately.

The American Medical Association advocates keeping marijuana classified as a tightly controlled and dangerous drug that should not be legalized until more research is done.

Marijuana Detection Time Based on Usage
Usage at 1 time only ——————— 5-8 days
Usage at 2-4 times per month ———–  11-18 days
Usage at 2-4 times week —————-  23-35 days 
Usage at 5-6 times per week ————  33-48 days
Daily Usage —————————– 49-63 days 

Beating Urine Tests for Marijuana

There are commercial and household detox products out there that will help you pass urine tests for marijuana.  Some people object to using these commercial products because they charge high prices when large volumes of water alone tends to work for most people.

Ignore the money-back guarantees on these commercial detox products.  These companys sell thousands of these kits through advertising in High Times, they are really inexpensive to produce, and they have a large profit margin.   Thus a few returns from a couple of motivated users are rather insignificant to them.   Even GoldenSeal could get away with offering a money back guarantee because the large volume of water that you are required to drink alone causes most people to pass.  Also some companys actually refuse to uphold this guarantee.  A guy in Sonoma County who tested positive sent the lab results back, only to be told by the company that marijuana is illegal.  He was never compensated for buying a failing product.

You can try a detox product, but you may be able to achieve the same results by drinking 8 glasses of water before the test along with vitamin B and creatine to make your urine color right.  However, I would not risk it and I would try to use someone else’s urine kept warm with a pocket glove or boot warmer pouch.

Laboratories know how easy it is to tamper with urine samples and thus alter the results. Therefore Labs often test the urine to find out if the sample is legitimate.  Below are a list of things that the laboratory will look for when testing your urine.

Color:  If a urine sample looks clear, the lab will suspect that it’s watered down. They can’t report it as positive, but they may reject the sample and inform your employer that you tried to beat the test. If this happens, the sample might as well be positive, because you won’t get hired. Take a vitamin B complex to keep the color of your urine yellow.

Temperature: Urine should be between 91 and 97 degrees. NIDA certified labs will verify temperature. If it is not within this range, they will suspect that you added water to the cup, or used someone else’s urine.  Disposable pocket hand warmers (sold in department stores) will keep a urine sample warm, provided that the urine is held in a condom or douche bag.

Creatinine: Creatinine is a substance produced by vertebrates, and it shows up in urine. If someone substitutes their urine with something other than urine, like Mountain Dew, they will test negative for creatine.  The test will most likely fail because Mountain Dew contains zero creatinine, and labs test creatinine levels to ensure that the sample is valid. Creatinine levels drop below normal when people dilute their urine. This tests to ensure that the subject didn’t drink unusual amounts of water. An *accurate* creatinine “clearance” test would require a urine and blood test 24 hours before the drug test to determine the normal creatinine level for that individual. This is almost never done. You should still be cautious because they do often use the inaccurate method of comparing your creatinine level during the drug test to an average. Eating foods rich in protein like red meat will slightly increase creatinine levels. There is no significant variation between vegatarians and armavors, so the effect protein has is little. Sexual activity also raises creatinine levels. I doubt sexual activity influences creatinine level with much significance. However, a vegetarian that doesn’t have much sex should be concerned. People who are drug-free sometimes lose their jobs for having too low of a creatinine level.  You can also buy creatine monohydrate to raise your creatine levels.

pH: pH is often changed when people spike their sample with household products. Use caution when doping urine, pH is usually tested.

Producing Clean Urine

THC is fat soluble, and it gets stored in your fat cells. Cleaning it out of your lipid tissue is very difficult. Many herbal products claim to clean out your system, yet they do nothing to remove THC byproducts from fat cells.

A study was done in Germany in 1993 on 50 of the most common herbs used by people trying to pass drug tests.  All 50 herbs failed to cause a negative test result on a person who uses marijuana. Unfortunately, these rumors will not die. Goldenseal (plant) is useless; yet it’s the most common thing for people to use. The only way to extract THC from fat cells is to exercise. Fat cells secrete fat with THC metabolites at a constant rate, regardless of what herbs you consume. You may be able to temporarily clean THC metabolites from your bloodstream, or dilute your fluids to yield a larger urine/THC ratio, but your bloodstream will continue collecting THC metabolites from fat. Your urine will continue collecting THC metabolites from your bloodstream.

Dilution: Hyper saturating your body with fluids will dilute metabolites possibly below the 50 ng/mL threshold, depending on your metabolism. Be aware that creatinine levels are often tested, and will show that the sample has been diluted. Diluting your sample will also produce clear urine, with virtually no yellow color. They will assume that you’ve diluted your sample, and they may reject your sample on the basis of color alone. It’s only necessary to start drinking just before the test. Those who drown themselves in fluid days before a test are only causing unnecessary discomfort. Those who stay up all night drinking water do not have any better chance than one who drinks heavily first thing in the morning. Get up early if the test is early, but do not lose sleep over a test that’s given in the daytime.

Water: Drink at least eight hefty glasses of fluid (preferably water) just prior to the test. Many people start drinking water several days before the test; which is useless. Water does *not* clean any THC metabolites out of your system because THC is not water soluble. Water only dilutes urine temporarily. Do not over do it; you can get water intoxication. People can actually overdose and even die from water intoxication. It’s very hard to do, and you’ll vomit before anything gets serious.

Creatinine level: Eating red meat will boost creatinine levels. If you eat a lot of red meat for the 3 days prior to the test, your creatinine level will be normal, and the lab won’t know that you’ve diluted your urine sample.

Vitamin B: Color your sample yellow by taking 50 to 100 milligrams of vitamin B. Many vitamins will work, but B-2 or B-12 (found in B-complex vitamins) are the most effective, though some will argue that vitamin C is better. This will also help if you plan to dope your sample (section 7). This does not guarantee that dilution will work. Diluted samples have been red-flagged when specific gravity and creatinine levels are tested and below normal. If you’re taking vitamins at the last minute, check to see if they’re time release. If so, crush it up and consume the powder. Coloring your urine isn’t all that important because it’s normal for people to have clear urine even when they don’t consume much fluid.

Diuretics: Diuretics make people urinate frequently. Coffee, cranberry juice, beer, iced tea, herbal tea, and Pepsi are all good diuretics. Grapes are known to be very good diuretics. Diuretics without caffeine or alcohol are recommended because caffeine and alcohol have negative side effects. Cranberry juice is also the cheapest. Avoid salts. Herbal diuretics do better than home remedies like juices.
How to Give a Clean Sample

Do NOT take the test using the urine from your first urination of the day.  It’s the dirtiest, and can be heavily filled with metabolites. Urinate a couple of times before giving a test sample. Also, don’t give the beginning or end of the stream. Piss in the toilet, then quickly stop and go in the cup. Stop, and shift back to the toilet for the last portion. Only give a midstream sample. Just be sure to give the proper amount.

Exercise: Athletes have a big advantage over normal civilians. When fat is burned, THC byproducts are released into the blood. This is the only way to get THC metabolites out of lipid tissue.   Due to an athletes high metabolic rate, THC moves through an athletes system significantly faster. Exercising between drug tests will clean THC metabolites from the system at a faster rate, thus lowering the detection period. It is important to stop burning fat cells near test time. On test day, it doesn’t matter what’s in your lipid tissue. What’s in your blood and urine does matter. Exercise increases the amount of THC metabolites in the urine; so quit exercising a week before the test. Be lazy, and eat big. This will put the body in an anabolic fat-storing stage. At this point, the “buried” THC metabolites won’t escape and go the the urine.

Hair Testing

When THC metabolites are in the blood, they go through the blood vessels in the head, and get filtered through the hair. THC metabolites remain in the hair as a permanent record. The hair test costs several hundred dollars ($150-$300) and is rarely given because urinalysis is cheaper (approximately $65) and more accurate. (The hair test equipment and setup goes for over a million). According to Jeff Nightbyrd, hair tests are “widely used in the casino industry.” They cut 50 strands of hair from the scalp, and send it in to the testing lab where they liquefy it. “A hair sample is disolved in a series of solvents which extract the drug metabolites and then are analyzed via GC/MS.” It can take several hours to days just to extract metabolites. Average hair grows 1/4 inch per month. Typically they just use hair one and a half inches from the scalp; though some labs will take enough to test for up to 3 years. The liquid is run through the most sensitive GC/MS machines available, and can detect as little as 1 ng/mL! The hair test discriminates in that detection is easier in dark hair. Colored people may be discriminated against further because melanin is in their hair, which can be mistaken for THC. However, there is conflicting data as to whether melanin can be detected as THC. Psychemedics Corporation has a PDT90 kit for $75. This home test kit is for parents that want to chop off a lock of their child’s hair to find out what drugs s/he is using. Kids- lock your bedroom doors at night if your parents don’t trust your judgment on the drug issue.

Beating the hair test is extremely hard, and there are false positives. Bleaching or dying your hair is rumored to work, but it doesn’t. I imagine you can shave every hair on your body and claim that you’re a swimmer. According to NORML, Aloe Rid by Nexus is a shampoo that will aid in testing negative. Aloe Rid is available only in salons. Healthy Hair, from Sampson Health Products, is another shampoo designed to beat the hair test. Healthy Hair is sold in retail stores throughout Las Vegas. Keith Thrash from Sampson Health Products reccommends precleansing with Aloe Rid prior to using Healthy Hair. Healthy Hair is used in the morning and before going to bed. Each session takes 20 minutes. According to Steve at Sampson Health Products, two out of a thousand people failed the hair test when using Healthy Hair. Byrd Labs is currently developing a shampoo to defeat the hair test. Some have suggested treating hair with oil because THC is oil based and oil soluble. However, there is no proven way to beat the hair test, so it’s all heresay and guessing at this point. (If anyone has any success with the shampoos or the swimmer excuse, please let me know). Swimming and washing your hair removes toxins, and Keith Thrash recommends doing both as much as possible. Fortunately, the hair test cannot be used alone as evidence because there are no forensic standards. It can only be used when substantiated by other evidence. Also, there are no intoxication standards.

I believe if you tested positive for the hair test that you would probably have a good chance of fighting it.  BlockBuster Video uses the most up-to-date equipment, and passing such a test can be difficult.  It takes several months of precleansing to beat the tests given by Psychemedics.