Prescription Drug Testing

Prescription drug testing is the process of detecting the presence of legally prescribed medications in a person’s system.

It can be used to confirm if someone is taking their medication correctly, or to identify misuse of drugs that are commonly prescribed but also prone to abuse, such as opioids or benzodiazepines.

We can test for a wide range of prescription medications including:

• Opioid painkillers / Opioid substitution therapies
  • Buprenorphine
  • Methadone
  • Pethidine
  • Tramadol
• Sedatives / sleep medications
  • Benzodiazepines
  • Zolpidem
  • Zopiclone
• Stimulants / ADHD medications
  • Amphetamine
• Antidepressants
  • SSRIs, SNRIs, Tricyclic antidepressants (e.g. fluoxetine, venlafaxine, amitriptyline)
• Antipsychotics
  • Olanzapine, risperidone – used for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
• Gabapentinoids / anti-epileptics
  • Gabapentin
  • Pregabalin
• Steroids
  • Corticosteroids (e.g. prednisolone – prescribed for inflammation, asthma, autoimmune conditions)

Even after the ‘high’ has worn off, and long after the drug was first consumed, prescription drug misuse can be detected by a drug test, depending on the type of test you take.

The drug testing detection windows for prescription drugs are as follows:

• Oral fluid (saliva) – up to 48 hours
• Urine – up to 4 days
• Hair – up to 12 months (depending on the length of hair available)
• Nails – up to 12 months (up to 6 months for fingernails and up to 12 months for toenails)

Oral fluid and urine drug testing are known as ‘narrow-window’ forms of testing and can be used to detect drug use from 30 minutes after consumption, up to a few days. This can vary depending on the type of substance and how much was used. 

The rate at which hair and nails grow means that both hair drug testing and nail drug testing can provide a ‘wide-window’ of detection for drugs and their metabolites (up to 12 months).

The type of drug test you need depends on your circumstances, and how you intend to use the results of the test.

We offer four types of drug test to detect prescription drug misuse:

• Urine
• Oral fluid (Saliva)
• Hair
• Nail

Urine drug tests and oral fluid drug tests provide a narrow window of detection, meaning that they can only tell us whether an individual has been misusing drugs in the few days prior to the samples being collected.

A urine drug test provides a window of detection up to four days. An oral fluid (saliva) drug test provides a window of detection up to 48 hours.

This makes urine and oral fluid drug tests ideal for circumstances where an individual is suspected to be under the influence of drugs in the ‘here and now’, or for day-to-day monitoring of drug use.

Hair drug tests and nail drug tests provide us with a wide window of detection (up to 12 months). This is due to the way in which drugs are retained in the hair and nails, long after substances were first consumed.

Hair drug tests can be used to identify a month-by-month pattern or an overview of prescription drug misuse (segmented or overview analysis) for up to 12 months. Nail drug tests are ideal where hair testing is not possible, providing an overview of historic prescription drug misuse up to six months (fingernails) or up to 12 months (toenails).  

If you require a prescription drug test for legal reasons, or other official matters, you will need to instruct us for a legal drug test. For a legal drug test, samples are collected by a professional sample collector under strict chain of custody conditions, ensuring the test results are court-admissible.

If you require a drug test for personal reasons, our Home Drug Testing Kit is ideally suited for this purpose. For this test, you can collect your sample in the comfort of your own home, for results in just 5 minutes. The results of this test cannot be used in court or for official matters.

For advice on which test is best for you, call our friendly, discreet Customer Services team on 01 402 9466 or email info@alphabiolabs.ie.