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It is also used by employers, who test their employees. [6] Hair analysis has the virtue of showing a 'history' of drug use due to hair's slow growth. Urine analysis might detect drugs taken in the past 2–3 days; hair analysis can sometimes detect use as far as 90 days, although certain cosmetic treatments (e.g. dyeing hair) can interfere ...
Cannabis use is detectable with hair tests and is generally included in the standard hair test. Hair tests generally take the most recent 1.5 inches of growth and use those for testing. That provides a detection period of approximately 90 days. [5] If an individual's hair is shorter than 1.5 inches, this detection period will be shorter.
Testing for drugs in hair is not standard throughout the population. The darker and coarser the hair the more drug that will be found in the hair. If two people consumed the same amount of drugs, the person with the darker and coarser hair will have more drug in their hair than the lighter haired person when tested.
Hair drug testing is a method that can detect drug use over a much longer period of time than saliva, sweat or urine tests. Hair testing is also more robust with respect to tampering. Thus, hair sampling is preferred by the US military [66] and by many large corporations, which are subject to Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988.
Psychemedics’ standard test uses a 1 ½ inch sample of head hair, which provides an approximate 3 month history of drug use. Body hair can also be collected if head hair is not available. [2] Psychemedics hair tests are available in Brazil through the company's independent distributor, Psychemedics Brazil.
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A 2000 study by the US NIST [6] examined 12 chemical spot tests and concluded that all the tests examined "may indicate a specific drug or class of drugs is in the sample, but the tests are not always specific for a single drug or [class]". The study also noted that "mace, nutmeg and tea reacted with the modified Duquenois–Levine [test]".
In mainstream scientific usage, hair analysis is the chemical analysis of a hair sample. The use of hair analysis in alternative medicine as a method of investigation to assist alternative diagnosis is controversial [1] [2] and its use in this manner has been opposed repeatedly by the AMA because of its unproven status and its potential for healthcare fraud.