Drug Testing
The most important part of the drug test is not the results, it is the reaction the person has when asked to take the test. Addicts and alcoholics threaten all the time to be drug tested, "Fine I'll just take a drug test then", as if that will end the insanity of their behaviors. Most addicts and alcoholics know that they will probably not be called on the bluff and if they are 
it will probably be on their own terms so they can prepare to beat the test and for alcoholics, alcohol won't be detected anyway. If you are a family reading this you probably do not have to go through with the drug test because we are sure your loved ones behaviors are erratic and out of character enough for you to be even considering a drug test in the first place. The results of the drug test does'nt change why you wanted to give your loved one a drug test in the first place nor does it change the behaviors of your loved one which is the whole reason for the drug test. Families cling to the hope that maybe the drug test will come back negative and then everything will be OK, yet your loved one still continues to act abnormal the answer is in the behaviors of your loved one, not in the drug test. When doing an intervention for families we explain that it is not what they are using, where they are using, how much or how little, it only matters what they are doing as a result. If your son or daughter were pulling straight A's at Yale University and their life was moving forward in a positive direction but you knew they drank, smoked weed and did occasional coke on the weekends, you wouldn't like it, but you would'nt be reading this. College kids drink more alcohol and smoke more marijuana than some of our drug and alcohol interventions why do we not intervene on them? The answer is, their choices are not affecting them negatively or anyone else's to the point they are in danger to themselves or others. Drug and alcohol use can be denied, the behaviors that the family is witnessing can not.
Drug Test Information
Drug tests are made to be beat and most likely a drug addict or alcoholic knows how to do that. Even if the drug test does come back positive the substance abuser is almost always going to say that it was a one time thing or that they did the drugs a long time ago. For the most part, drugs like cocaine, crack, heroin, Oxycontin and crystal meth can be out of the system and off the drug test radar in as little as three days and alcohol won't even show up at all from an over the counter test. Other than marijuana almost all drugs should not show up on a urine test longer than 5 days at the maximum. The hardest part of being an addiction counselor and interventionist is trying to talk to parents about why the drug test option is almost never reliable. If the test is positive the addict will always come up with excuses that are convincing enough to sell the family as to why it is positive, it is nothing to worry about and they will just stop. If the test is negative, because they have not used in two or three days or they faked it, the family thinks everything is OK. If your loved one is behaving in such a way that you feel a drug test is necessary, you would be better off that is was drugs because that is much easier to treat then mental illness; either way, they would still need intervention and treatment. The test that is worth taking is a hair follicle sample which is expensive and it is difficult to find a lab to do it.
