A drug is best defined in broad terms as the chemical substance that can have biological effects on living beings (animals or humans). This article does not include foods although every food ingredient contains medicinal properties. In medical science, a drug is used to mean the substance used in the cure, treatment, prevention and diagnosis of diseases. They are also used to enhance the mental or physical well-being of a patient. Usually, drugs for simple diseases such as cough and cold tend to be used for a maximum of three days. The next types of drugs, known as psychoactive drugs affect the functioning of the nervous systems, moods or make the human being lose consciousness. The best examples are nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. The dangerous drugs are those used for pleasure and known by the name ‘Recreational Drugs.’ Unlike other drugs, they can cause addiction and side effects. They are banned, and the best examples are amphetamines and opiates. Drugs of any type can be purposely or accidentally swallowed, injected, inhaled or absorbed through the mucous membrane or skin surface. Drugs can be non-prescription medicines (such as acetaminophen or aspirin), prescription medicines, nutritional supplements, vitamins and illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine.In this article on how long do drugs stay in your system information has been given on various drugs and the factors affecting the time of existence in the human body.
How Long Does Drugs Stay In Your System?
The time can vary depending on the drug used, the amount you have taken and other medications as well your metabolism. The best way that has been found in recent times by drug administrators to avoid detection of any specific drug is not to use it.
There are drugs which when used give a high till a certain amount of time. But when the time is over, and you come back to the normal stage, the drug still stays in the body and can be detectable in the drug tests. The traces can be found in the body long after the drug is used. Compared to other parts of the body, hair can retain for a long time the traces of a drug even after the person has stopped using it.
Drug Test
A drug test or analysis can be best defined as the analysis (technical) of any kind of biological specimen such as hair, blood, urine, sweat or saliva/oral fluid for determining the absence or presence of banned parent drugs (or their other forms – metabolites). The major applications in recent times are in the field of sports and employment. Sports agencies or organizations check the presence of steroids that can boost performance levels. Employers (even police department) check the presence of drugs (banned by law: example – heroin, cocaine etc) in the blood, urine or hair or concentration of ethanol (alcohol) in the blood. Blood tests for alcohol abuse, usually referred to as BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) are done with a breathalyzer. However, for the drug abuse tests, urinalysis and testing of hair are the most prominent ones preferred by experts.
In case of life-threatening situations, a toxicology test will be conducted. It can check blood, saliva or urine for the existence of banned chemicals or drugs. There can be rare cases, where sweat or stomach contents will also be taken into consideration.
This test can be used for checking one particular drug or even up to thirty different drugs at a single time. Technicians prefer the test on urine or a saliva sample more than blood for two reasons. The first is saliva/oral fluid and urine tests are easy to do compared to tests done in blood; the second reason is most of the drugs can be detected in blood or saliva.
| Approximate Time Limit For Duration of Stay In Body | ||||||
| Substance | Class | Street Name | Brand Name | Urine | Hair | Oral Fluid/Blood |
| Alcohol | depressants / sedatives / hypnotics | alcohol, liquor, beer, wine booze |
Not available |
Six to an entire day; the component to be tested is ethyl glucuronise; it can stay in your urine close to eighty hours. | Till 48 hours | In blood, the duration is 12 hours;The duration can be from a day to two days in oral fluid |
| Amphetamines (except methamphetamine) |
Stimulant | speed | Dexedrine, Benzedrine | The duration can be one to three days. | Beware! the drug can stay up to ninety days | Short duration of twelve hours |
| Methamphetamine | Stimulant | speed, ice, rocks, crystal, crank |
Desosyn, Methedrine | Time limit is three to five days | Till ninety days | One to three days |
| MDMA (Ecstasy) | Stimulant | ecstacy, XTC, ADAM, lover’s speed |
Not available |
Maximum limit is three to four days | Till ninety days | Three to four days |
| Barbiturates (except phenobarbital) |
depressants / sedatives / hypnotics | downers, barbs, reds | Amytal, Fiorinal, Nembutal, Donna | 24 hours | Till ninety days | One to two days |
| Phenobarbital |
Not available |
Not available |
Not available |
The time limit is fifteen days to twenty one days | Till ninety days | Four to seven days |
| Benzodiazepines | depressants / sedatives / hypnotics | bennies | Valium, Ativan, Xanax, Serax | For therapeutic use, the drug can stay for seven days; in case of chronic use, the duration will be four to six weeks | Till ninety days | This drug has to be measured in six hours to two days. |
| Cannabis | Hallucinogen | pot, dope, weed, hash, hemp |
Marinol, Cesamet | It depends on the nature of use; Infrequent users – the time limit is seven to ten days; for heavy users – till thirty days | Up to three months | This drug can remain till two to three days in the blood stream in case of light users; for heavy users, the time limit is two weeks. If the person have used the real THC or THC metabolites, the second one has a longer detection time. Real THC can be detected only in the time limit of 2 to 24 hours in many cases. |
| Cocaine | Stimulant | Flake, snow, powder, coke, crack |
Not available |
For light users, the duration can be two to five days; for heavy users, chances of testing positive are high within ten days. If you are a light user but have kidney disorders, then you can test positive within ten days. | Up to three months | 24 hours in blood; 48 hours to ten days in saliva or oral fluid |
| Codeine | Analgesic / Opiate | Tylenol 3, Robitusin A-C, schoolboy |
Not available |
Two to three days | Up to three months | One to four days |
| Cotinine (a breakdown product ofnicotine) |
Not available |
Not available |
Not available |
The time limit is two to four days | up to 90 days | Time limit: two to four days |
| Morphine | Analgesic / Opiate |
Not available |
Duramorph, Roxanol | The time limit is two to four days | up to 90 days | One to three days |
| Tricyclic antidepressants (TCA’s) |
Not available |
Not available |
Not available |
From a week to ten days | Undetectable | It can be detected but the dose relationship cannot be proved |
| LSD |
Not available |
Not available |
Not available |
The time limit is very short – two hours to a day | Till four days | Two to four days |
| Methadone |
Not available |
Not available |
Not available |
A week to ten days | Up to three months | A day |
| Steroids |
Not available |
Not available |
Not available |
Duration can be from three days to a month |
Not available |
Not available |
| PCP |
Not available |
Angel dust, killer weed, wack, Supergrass |
Not available |
In case of single use, the duration is three to seven days; constant use – the time limit is thirty days | Till three months | One day in blood; One to ten days in saliva or oral fluid |
| Heroine | Analgesic / Opiate | smack, tar, chasing the tiger |
Not available |
Three to four days | Three months | 12 hours in blood |
| Fentanyl |
Not available |
Lollipop, China White |
Not available |
One day | Three months | Four hours in blood |
| Dilaudid |
Not available |
Palladone, hydrostat |
Not available |
Two to three days | Three months | 22 hours in blood |
| Suboxone |
Not available |
N/A |
Not available |
Two to five days | Three months | 72 hours in blood |
| Tobacco |
Not available |
Cigarettes, cigs, cigars, snuff |
Not available |
One to Three days | Three months | One to three days in saliva |
| Darvon |
Not available |
Opiate, painkiller |
Not available |
8-24 hours | Up to 90 days | 1-2 days in saliva |
| Demerol |
Not available |
Mepergan, Pethidine |
Not available |
Six to twelve days | Up to 90 days | 1-10 days in saliva |
| Opium |
Not available |
Dover’s powder |
Not available |
Two to four days | Up to 90 days | 12 hours in blood, and one to four days in oral fluid |
| Halcion |
Not available |
Benzos |
Not available |
One to six weeks | Up to 90 days | 6-48 hours in blood; one to ten days in oral fluid |
| Hash |
Not available |
Hashish, Hashish Oil |
Not available |
2 days – 11 weeks | Up to 90 days | 2 days in blood;1-10 days |
| Hydrocodone |
Not available |
Vicodin, Lortab, Vics, Lorcet, Norco |
Not available |
One to six days | Up to 90 days | 1-10 days in oral fluid |
| Spice |
Not available |
Synthetic Cannabis, JWH-018 |
Not available |
2 days – 11 weeks | Up to 90 days | 2 days in blood; one to ten days in saliva or oral fluid |
| Paragoric |
Not available |
Laudanum, Opium-based painkiller |
Not available |
Two to four days | Up to 90 days | 12 hours in blood; one to four days |
| Loperamide |
Not available |
Maalox, Immodium AD |
Not available |
20 – 24 hours | Up to 90 days |
Not available |
| Mushrooms |
Not available |
Shrooms, magic, purple passion |
Not available |
Two to five days | Up to 90 days | One to five days in saliva or oral fluid |
| Ritalin |
Not available |
Mommy pills |
Not available |
One to two days | Up to 90 days | One to two days |
Note: The above table has to be used only as a general guideline. There can be many factors that affect the duration of time a drug can be detected in a human body. Some of the factors are the specific drug’s half-life, person’s fluid balance and state of hydration, the frequency and amount of use, health of the person ingesting the drug, age, gender, metabolic rate, drug tolerance, way of taking the drug and the concentration of biological samples taken by the testing lab for detecting the drug etc.
Information is given on the main variables that can make a difference:
Metabolism
If your body metabolism is fast, it uses things pretty quickly – everything – such as the water, food, and any drugs ingested. But if your metabolism is slow, a drug may last longer in the system.
Hydration And Body Mass
If you are obese, drugs may stay longer in the system since they can be trapped in the fatty tissues. If you are thin, chances of elimination are more. Drinking large quantities of water may also make the drug disappear, but not in every case.
Frequency And Amount Of Drug Use
The frequency of drug use can make a huge difference. A tolerance might build in the body. You would have taken one drug tablet a day to give you a high, but after few months, a single tablet does not make the difference, and then you take two tablets. Then drug addiction starts and the effects and chemicals will stay on your body for a subsequent period. Some persons take tablets only in the weekends to get sleep because of hypertension and stress.
No Perfect Duration
There can be no exact time table for the drugs leaving the body because each person usage of drugs and metabolism will be different. The time table above specifies the average taken from many persons, but it is not perfect. Someone might be taking medications, and the taken drug can also react with the components to give an entirely different result. The bottom line – no perfect timetable on when will a drug exit the body system and no period that is perfectly suitable to conduct a drug test.
