What Is Saliva Drug Testing?

Contents

• What Is A Saliva Drug Test Used For?
• Saliva Drug Testing – Positives
• Saliva Drug Testing – Negatives
• When Should You Use Saliva Testing?
• In A Nutshell

What Is A Saliva Drug Test Used For?

Saliva drug testing is proving to be a very efficient and non-intrusive way for people to be tested for recent drug use. Saliva testing takes a small amount of oral fluid from someone’s mouth and tests for drugs such as heroin, cocaine, cannabis or amphetamines. It’s a very fast process that will not inconvenience the person being tested. The upside to this method of screening is that it’s almost impossible to use someone else’s saliva for the test, which means that the test is very difficult to cheat.

Saliva is a liquid that is produced by glands that are located in the mouth. Each day, an adult produces more than one thousand millilitres of saliva. Saliva can also provide a convenient sample for screening for recent drug use.

In order to test for drugs, a swab is used to collect saliva. The precise collection method and collection time vary between test devices, so the manufacturer’s instructions should always be followed.

Saliva drug testing can be particularly useful when the aim is to screen for relatively recent drug use.

Saliva Drug Testing – Positives:

A saliva drug test is not invasive in any way. It’s easy to perform and can be done very quickly. It is also relatively inexpensive to perform and difficult to manipulate using someone else’s saliva. The test results are returned very quickly. Most saliva drug tests will screen for several different drugs at the same time.

Rapid saliva drug tests are screening tests. Results should always be interpreted according to the instructions and cut-off levels supplied with the particular test kit, and a non-negative screening result may require appropriate confirmation testing.

Saliva Drug Testing – Negatives:

Saliva drug testing generally has a relatively short detection window and is mainly used to identify recent drug use. Detection times vary according to the drug, dose, frequency of use, individual factors and the cut-off level of the test. A saliva drug test is therefore less suitable for identifying drug use over a longer period.

In those cases, a hair drug test may be more useful because hair testing can provide information about drug use over a considerably longer period, depending on the length of hair analysed and the laboratory method used.

When Should You Use Saliva Testing?

You’re probably wondering when saliva testing makes the most sense. Think of it as a useful option for situations where recent drug use is the main concern. For employers, saliva testing can provide a rapid screening result without the more intrusive sample collection required by some other testing methods.

For workplace accidents, time can be important. That’s why some organisations use saliva testing as part of an established workplace drug and alcohol testing policy. However, a positive screening result indicates that a drug or its metabolite has been detected at or above the test’s specified cut-off. It does not, by itself, establish impairment or prove that drug use caused an accident or particular behaviour.

In A Nutshell:

Saliva drug testing is quick, painless and useful for screening for recent drug use. The person being tested cannot easily substitute the saliva with someone else’s because sample collection can be directly observed. Unlike some other sample types, this makes the test difficult to cheat.

This can be a useful method for employers who need to screen for recent drug use, but it cannot provide a long-term history of someone’s drug use. Workplace testing should be carried out under an appropriate drug and alcohol policy, and significant non-negative results may require confirmation testing.

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