Cannabis drug testing in London

Cannabis drug testing in London can be performed using urine, oral fluid (saliva), hair and nail clipping samples. All of these drug tests vary in their windows of detection so recent or chronic cannabis use can be established.

Sample collection options for cannabis drug testing in London include:

• Attendance at either of our London Walk in Centres (Kentish Town NW5 2BX or Springfield Medical Centre SW8 2SH.
• One of our trained sample collectors visiting an address of your choice

Full chain of custody conditions are followed in both cases to ensure legally-defensible results.

Cannabis urine drug testing in London

Urine drug testing for cannabis involves a donor providing a sample of their urine, which is then analysed for particular substances. A fully-contained screening pot is used to collect the sample, which can be used by both men and women. This method is ideal for workplace testing thanks to it being quick, accurate and providing an immediate result.

Urine drug testing is known as a ‘narrow-window’ form of testing as its period of detection is only a few days, although this can depend on the particular substance taken. Drugs including MDMA, cocaine and methamphetamine can be present in urine for about 3–5 days, but cannabis can stay in urine for as long as 28 days after chronic use.

Cannabis oral fluid drug testing in London

Oral fluid drug testing is another quick way to determine recent cannabis use and involves analysing a sample of saliva. The entire test takes just 20–30 minutes and involves placing an absorbent collector inside an individual’s mouth for a few minutes to soak up sufficient saliva.

This is another ‘narrow-window’ form of testing and its period of detection is approximately 30–60 minutes after ingestion (up to 48 hours), although, again, this can depend on the particular substance taken.

Cannabis hair drug testing in London

Hair drug testing is used to provide a more comprehensive overview of a person’s cannabis use and can determine a history of drug intake for up to 12 months. By segmenting head hair samples into monthly 1 cm sections, a month-by-month profile of cannabis use can be attained. Analysis of small segments can help establish a positive hair test in a narrow timeframe, but unlike urine and oral fluid tests, hair strand analysis cannot show recent drug history. It can take between 7–10 days for the hair containing the drug to grow above the scalp.

With hair strand analysis, it is also possible to identify the ingestion of cannabis as opposed to environmental exposure to the drug. If an individual has been in an environment heavily laden with smoke, for example, each hair sample is chemically washed three times to remove or reduce any drug present prior to analysis. If a donor admits to being surrounded by cannabis smokers, the washing solution could be used to back up any test results.

Cannabis nail drug testing in London

Cannabis can be detected in nails because when it is consumed, its metabolites circulate in the bloodstream. These substances pass from the blood vessels below the nail into the keratin fibres as the nail grows.

Approximately 10 mg of nail (either fingernail or toenail) is required in total and they need to be collected as close to the nail bed as possible. Unlike hair drug testing, nail drug testing won’t give a historic segmented pattern of drug use, but it will give an overview of up to 6 months.

Enquire about cannabis drug testing in London

For information on any of AlphaBiolabs’ drug testing solutions in London, please call 0333 600 1300 or email us at info@alphabiolabs.com