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Old 12-28-2012, 04:02 AM  
pgmorin
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Montréal
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How Long Can Marijuana Be Detected?
Some THC metabolites have an elimination half-life of 20 hours. However, some are stored in body fat and have a elimination half-life of 10 to 13 days. Most researchers agree that urine tests for marijuana can detect the presence of the drug in the body for up to 13 days.

However, there is anecdotal evidence that the length of time that marijuana remains in the body is affected by how often the person smokes, how much he smokes and how long he has been smoking. Regular smokers have reported positive drug test results after 45 days since last use and heavy smokers have reported positive tests 90 days after quitting.

Can You Fool the Test?
Although many tips are published on websites and magazines of marijuana decriminalization advocates on how to beat a marijuana drug test, most have proven to be urban legends. Some techniques include:

Washing Yourself Out - This entails drinking a lot of water or liquids and urinating several times before the test, then taking vitamin B-2 to add color back to the urine. Although this may lower the percentage of THC found in the urine by diluting it, it will not totally eliminate THC metabolites.

Using Drug Screening Agents - Some companies sell various substances and herbal teas that are allegedly capable of "cleaning" the body's system of traces of marijuana. There is little evidence that any of them actually work. The catch is most of them have to be used over an extended period of time, during which the body will naturally eliminate THC from the system anyway.

Tampering With the Test - This involves adding something to the urine to contaminate the sample. There are tales of using Visine, bleach, salt or detergent to urine, but these items are easily detected by the lab. Several commercial products are used as urine test adulterants, but none are 100% foolproof. And all of them can be detected by the laboratory, if a separate test is run for them.

The Bottom Line
If you are required to take a urine test on short notice for employment or other purposes and you have recently smoked marijuana, you are probably going to fail the test. This is particularly true if you are a regular or heavy pot smoker.
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