Just Say Know

I mentioned in my first article that I would address the issues of “detoxification” products in a future article. Well, the future is now

In short, there is no detoxification product available that will have any effect on the length of time it will take for a given drug to clear your system. It’s really a sad state of affairs that people are forced to take drug tests at all; it seems to me that’s blatantly prohibited by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution (if forcing someone to reveal what’s in their body isn’t an “unreasonable search”, I don’t know what is). But perhaps what’s even more shady than this seemingly obvious disregard for personal liberty is the fact that there are many vultures out there making money off people’s paranoia of failing these tests.

Before I go into the details of why these products do absolutely nothing, short of robbing you of some of your hard earned cash, let’s take a look at how long it typically takes some common drugs to clear the system [1]:

Substance	Urine	Hair	Blood
Alcohol	3–5 days via Ethyl Gluconoride(EtG) metabolite or 10–12 hours via traditional method	lifetime of hair	12 hours
Amphetamines (except meth)	1 to 2 days	up to 90 days	12 hours
Methamphetamine	2 to 4 days	up to 90 days	24 hours
Barbiturates (except phenobarbital)	2 to 3 days	up to 90 days	1 to 2 days
Phenobarbital	7 to 14 days	up to 90 days	4 to 7 days
Benzodiazepines	Therapeutic use: 3 days. Chronic use (over one year): 4 to 6 weeks	up to 90 days	6 to 48 hours
Cannabis	Light Use: 2-7 days Prolonged Use: 1 week - 3 months	up to 90 days	12 days
Cocaine	2 to 4 days with exceptions for certain kidney disorders	up to 90 days	24 hours
Codeine	1 day	up to 30 days	12 hours
Cotinine (a break-down product of nicotine)	2 to 4 days	up to 90 days	2 to 4 days
Morphine	2 days	up to 90 days	6 hours
Heroin	2 days	up to 90 days	6 hours
LSD	2 to 24 hours	up to 3 days	0 to 3 hours
Methadone	3 days	up to 30 days	24 hours
PCP	14 days; up to 30 days in chronic users	up to 90 days	24 hours

It should be noted that these times are only estimates. In the first place, people’s metabolisms (the rate at which chemical reactions occur in the body) vary widely. Other factors that causes these times to vary include age, weight, sex, overall health, the amount of drug consumed, and then length of time over which the drug’s been taken. There is also considerable variation among the different references regarding detection times. The above table is from LabCorp, one of the bigger biological specimen testing companies out there. But look at a different reference chart and you’ll get somewhat different answers. For example, NIDA (the National Institute on Drug Abuse) gives the following estimates[2]:

Drug	Urine Detection Time
Amphetamine	2 – 4 days
Barbiturates	2 – 4 days for short acting; up to 30 days for long acting
Benzodiazepines	Up to 30 days
Cocaine	1 – 3 days
Codeine	1 – 3 days
Heroin	1 – 3 days
Marijuana	1 – 3 days for casual use; up to 30 days for chronic use
Methadone	2 – 4 days
Methamphetamine	2 – 4 days
Phencyclidine (PCP)	2 – 7 days for casual use; up to 30 days for chronic use

And yet another source [3] gives the following estimates:

So, there are two main things one might conclude from these tables. The first is that you can’t really predict with any great degree of accuracy when a drug will clear your system, primarily because there are so many variables involved. Generally speaking, the healthier you are, the quicker a given drug’ll be gone. This is because the healthier you are, the more efficiently your body processes the things you put it in.

The other main thing one might conclude from these tables is that some drugs, in particular marijuana, take a lot longer to clear the system than most other drugs. This is because most drugs are water soluble, meaning that the drugs dissolve easily in water. Marijuana, on the other hand, is not water soluble, but rather is fat soluble. In addition to being the reason why pot has to be cooked in oil or butter in order to be effective when eaten, it also is the main reason why it takes so long for pot to clear the system.

Because of this, most people who have to take drug tests only really have to worry about being caught with cannabinoids (the pharmacologically active chemicals in pot) in their pee. (Note, there are a couple other drugs that hang around in the body a long time, mainly PCP and some benzodiazepines like clonazepam, aka Klonopin). Unless you’re someone who might be subject to random drug testing, it’s pretty easy to pass a drug test for most drugs just by waiting a couple days. Pot, on the other hand, can be detected for up to a month or more, especially in people with slow metabolisms.

So, now we come to the essential question… what can be done to speed up the time it takes for cannabinoids to clear the system? Unfortunately, not a whole lot. There are many products on the market that claim to help with this, but there is little to no evidence to back up the efficacy of these prodcuts [4]. In fact, in Great Britain, many detox products have been forced to remove claims about cleaning toxins from bodies, due to a 1994 law that requires products with medical claims to have scientific proof of their efficacy [5]. Researchers from the non-profit group Sense About Science go so far as to say:

Our bodies are very good at eliminating all the nasties that we might ingest over the festive season. There is a popular notion that we can speed up the elimination process by drinking fancy bottled water or sipping herbal teas, but this is just nonsense. In fact, many of the detox diets and supplements really aren’t that good for you, nor have they been properly tested.[6]

Indeed, US research in 2005 “concluded that detox diets do no more than the body’s own natural system to get rid of toxins.” [7] The researchers, Dr. Roger Clemens, professor of molecular pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Southern California, and Dr. Peter Pressman, an endocrinologist at private medical firm Geller, Rudnick, Bush and Bamberger, go on to say, “The suggestion that elimination of noxious agents is enhanced because of this regimen [i.e., detox products] is categorically unsubstantiated and runs counter to our understanding about human physiology and biochemistry.”

So, given that the (albeit limited) research on detox products indicates that they are, in fact, essentially a scam, is there anything that can be done? The truth is…. not much. There is one thing that you CAN do that will almost certainly speed up the time it takes for drugs, including cannabinoids, to clear the system, although the amount of effects it will have is likely small and the idea may frighten many potheads. What you can do is….. EXERCISE!

Earlier in this article, I mentioned that people with higher metabolisms will clear drugs more quickly than those with lower metabolisms. Exercise is a surefire way to raise metabolism and it will also burn fat, where cannabinoids are stored in the body.

The only sure way to test negative on a drug test - other than not taking drugs - is to make sure your body has eliminated all of the drugs you have taken, which happens after the drugs have been metabolised by your body. The only way to speed up this process is to speed up your metabolism, which you can do quickly and cheaply by doing something good for you like exercise… [8]

Exercise as much as you can up to a day or two before the test, but then stop. The reason for this being that you don’t want to be releasing your fat stores the day of the test, in case there are any lingering cannabinoids left in your fat.

In addition to exercise, it is important to eat a lot of healthy food in the days leading up to your test. Eating a lot will also raise your metabolism and removing fatty foods from your diet will enable your body to use up its fat stores, thus releasing the cannabinoids that are stored in it. It’s also important to keep well hydrated, essentially so that you pee a lot. The more you pee, the more chance the offending chemicals have to get out of your body. It’s also a good idea to drink a lot of water the day of the test, as this will dilute your urine (i.e., it will reduce the ratio of drugs to pee in your urine). If you drink too much water the day of the test, the test may be rejected for being too diluted, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and may even be a good thing. In most cases you won’t get in any trouble for having diluted urine; they’ll just ask you to come back and take the test again at a later date, giving your body even more time to process out the drug metabolites. Also, never go to a piss test and give your first urine of the day, i.e. always make sure you piss at least once before going to the test, as your first piss of the day will always be your dirtiest.

Welp, there you go. I’m sorry I don’t have better news to give you; although exercising will help, it won’t greater reduce the amount of time it’ll take for drugs to clear your system. But hey, at least it’s good for you (unlike some detox products, which, in addition to not working, may actually be bad for your health) and it’s free!

Oh, and one final note… most drug stores now sell home testing kits. If you’re worried that you might not pass, it’s a good idea to pick up one of these kits. They’re generally pretty cheap (in the range of $15-20 usually) and will let you know whatcha need to know.

Good luck!

References:

[1] “Drugs of Abuse Reference Guide,” LabCorp Inc, Retrieved online May 26, 2008.

[2] Cone, E. J. (1997). “New Developments in Biological Measures of Drug Prevalence.” NIDA Monograph 167, pp. 108-129

[3] “Typical Drug Detection/Clearance Times,” Craig Medical Distribution, Inc, Retrieved online May 26, 2008.

[4] Cohen, M. (2007). “‘Detox’: science or sales pitch?” Australian Family Physician, 36, 1009-1010.

[5] “Detox’s medical claims face probe.” BBC News, retrieved online June 7, 2008.

[6] “Detox press release.” Sense About Science, retrieved online June 7, 2008.

[7] ‘No proof’ detoxing diets work.” BBC News, retrieved online June 7, 2008.

[8] Grzelinska, J. (2004). “Drug Testing FAQs.” DrugInfo Clearinghouse at the Australian Drug Foundation, retrieved online June 7, 2008.