drug testing q.... how sensitive are they

[Busy20yo]

sorry for a dumb question, but i cant get my mind off of it, so here we go.^

my brother and i are on vacation traveling europe. We have been staying in hostiles which is good and bad. The good thing is its cheap and we get to meet new-interesting people... The bad part is we meet new-interesting people!!!!!

Last night my brother and i woke up to a "bed neighbor" smoking crack from tinfoil and blowing the smoke out a small open window. It turns out he had been smoking for a while. We emediatly went to the front desk and DEMANDED a new room, and they kindly obliged.

NOW.... My brother is going into the military in the next month or so and will have some sort of nuclear engineering job. It requires a security clearance...etc.etc. Obviously thew will drug test him, and im assuming they wont cheap out w a urine test since he will be very important to the military. He doesnt do drugs at all. Is there anything to worry about w the smoke in the room creating a false positive. The room was good sized(10 by 20) and the crackhead was blowing most the smoke out of the small window. The room wasnt SMOKEY or CLOUDY but it did smell pretty bad and of chemicals...

Should he be worried about just being in the same room as that guy or does it require actual hits or puffs to create a positive. Like i said, its a decent sized room, but it smelled kinda bad. im kinda worried because i would hate for something so small and stupid to mess up a life-long career. honest opinions please...--sorry about the punctuation..i cant find the q mark on these wierd keyboards---

thanks so much for any time and or knowledge

[gr8rnpjt, RN]

There may be other forums out there somewhere that would be able to help you with a definitive answer. I know that exposure to marijuana smoke will definitely cause a false positive result, so it appears there could be a chance his situation would be the same, especially since you were able to smell the chemicals. Good luck to you both.

[NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN]

I don't know if it's possible, but can your brother find an 'excuse' to enlist a month later? That way his whole career won't be messed up because of the false positive test.

[Busy20yo]

ive heard of false positives when someone was around a lot of marijuana smoke in tight quarters(car, smoke shop, etc.) but we were in a fairly large room, but im not sure what the tolerances are.. Also, cant the hair tests determine the amount of exposure or could it tell that it was not from direct consumption.

[ukstudent]

Depending on how worried you both are, you could go to a drug testing place and pay for a private test. Then you would know if it was going to show up prior to the government doing the test. However, I think the cocaine only stays in your system for a day or two even if your the one doing it. Marijuna can stay in the system for a few weeks so be happy your room mate was smoking crack and not a joint.

[SmilingBluEyes]

I am sorry but, this is not the place to ask such questions. No one here can advise you really in a way that is necessarily accurate. If you are concerned about exposure to "second hand crack smoke" best to discuss that w/the recruiters of the branch he is entering.

Plus, we are getting into a potentially legally-sketchy area when discussing drug tests and passing them on this site.

Truly, nobody here can give you absolute reassurance that nothing can or will go wrong in such cases.

GOOD LUCK to your brother.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

The drug tests I've had experience with- all urine tests- would probably not show anything from second-hand cocaine exposure. Cocaine is usually out of the body pretty fast for the user. I can't speak for all drug testing methods, however. Having his own test done when you get home might reassure both of you.

I'd be careful about exposure to marijuana smoke, even though tests aren't supposed to pick up second hand exposure. It does stay in the body considerably longer. You might not be able to totally avoid exposure, but don't hang out in the smoke shops, just to be careful.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, and good luck to your brother!

[SmilingBluEyes]

As I said, allnurses.com does not really encourage questions like these. In the past, we have had people actually post how to "beat drug tests" and continue working and this is definately something we do NOT want to get into. Also, as I said, no one here can give you truly accurate information, because it's hard to say. I would tell your friend to talk with the recruiter and tell him or her what happened and be UP FRONT prior to entry to the military. Yes, there are drug screens in the military, mostly random and often. If your friend is that concerned, the recruiter is the one who can probably best help out.

Good luck.