Because I take benzodiazepine for my disorders, my ADHD-ridden brain came up with this idea to try out the commercially-available drug test kit. I documented it, and the result is this blog post.
Before I conducted the experiment, I created a poll on my Instagram to ask whether my friends have ever taken a mandatory, surprise drug test from their company during their employment. The question was, “Di kantor/ tempat kerja kalian (yang sekarang maupun sebelumnya) pernah ngadain drug test ga?“ and the answer options were “Gak” or “Pernah.” The result is 83% answered “Gak” and 17% answered “Pernah.”
For those who answered “Pernah,” I put an additional question, “Setau kalian itu agenda rutin atau one-off aja?” which resulting in 100% saying that it was a one-off thing. FYI, that 17% population are consisted of medical workers and field engineers.
The aim of that poll was to inform me that I am not the only one who wasn’t familiar with the drug test kit. I’ve done urine test multiple times before, but all were done in labs, and I only received the result in the form of certificates, not knowing (and not curious enough to find out) what kit they used to test them.
A couple notes for the kit I used here:
- It tests 5 parameters (BZO-Benzodiazepines, MET-Methamphetamines, MOP-Morphines, AMP-Amphetamines, and THC from marijuana)
- Unlike rapid Covid-19 tests and pregnancy tests, 2 strips result on this kit means negative. C is control line and T is test line.
There’s this ancient belief rooted from a 2002 study that methylphenidate could cause false positive result on amphetamine or methamphetamine drug test. This has been disproved by a 2012 study which explained that the probable cause of the conclusion in that particular earlier study was cross-reactivity. Methylphenidate, even though functionally similar to enantiomers of amphetamines (dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine) as stimulant drug for ADHD patients, is structurally distinct from amphetamines.
And, yep, proved it once again. My methylphenidate drug doesn’t cause positive result on MET or AMP. I only tested positive for BZO because I take alprazolam which is a benzo. The label on the kit says the peak accuracy of the test would be at 3-5 minutes post-dip, and it is true because after 24 hours, I noticed a faded line on the T part of my BZO strip. A line, however faint, based on an article by drugtestpanels.com, indicates that the test has not detected any trace of the corresponding substance, and therefore would be considered as a negative result.
So, I guess that’s it. That’s the post.
