What Are the Cut-Off Levels for Drug Tests?
Drug tests can be scary, even when you are confident that you’re going to pass them. They are even more terrifying if you aren’t sure what substances you’re getting tested for. False positives can happen. There are cases on record of people falsely testing positive for opiates because they ate too many poppy seeds. But the real question most people have is what makes you pass or fail a drug test? The answer is cut-off levels. These measurements are your advocate, in charge of sniffing out the truth behind your drug usage. They also help answer questions regarding one-off situations such as:
- What if you’re around people smoking cannabis? If you’re exposed, can that cause you to fail?
- What if you take just one Vicodin from a previous prescription because you came down with a terrible toothache, will that register on your drug test?
- What if you had a lot to drink the night before?
With so many variables involved in drug testing, it’s normal to be concerned and look to understand more about the process. To understand what makes you fail a drug test, you need to know how cut-off levels work and their relationship to illegal substances.
What are Cut-Off Levels?
Cut-off levels are the defined amounts you can have in your system before you are considered positive for a specific drug. Meaning that if your sample test has a lower metabolite count than the cut-off level, your test will show a negative result. Cut-off levels exist so that trace amounts that sometimes pop up in samples, like the alcohol residue from mouthwash, won’t cause those who aren’t regular drug users to fail their tests.
Keep in mind, though, that these cut-off levels vary from drug to drug and even test to test. They can even differ from one company to another. For example, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has specified cut-off levels that are often different from non-DOT companies.
How Are Cut-Off Levels Defined?
Cut-off levels are defined in different measurements depending on the type of drug test administered. When taking a urine or saliva test, your cut-off levels are measured in nanograms per milliliter, and for hair testing, cut-off levels are determined by picograms per milligram.
For a selected specimen to be considered positive, the amount of a specific substance must be present in the sample during the specified detection window. Otherwise, it is negative. This is an important distinction because a negative result on a drug test does not necessarily mean that there are no drugs present in a person’s system. Instead, it just means that the specimen did not include enough of a specific drug to provide conclusive evidence to declare a test positive.
What Are the Cut Off Levels for Drug Tests?
There are two cut-off levels for each type of test. The first is a screening cut-off to detect if a sample is positive, with the second being a confirmation cut-off for the second test performed on a specimen to confirm the test results. This confirmation cut-off level is often much lower than the screening cut-off because the tester is just ensuring the initial positive result.
Cut-off levels also vary depending on the type of test being performed. For example, a lab-based test has different cut-off levels than, say, a non-lab-based 5-panel drug test. Below are the approximate cut-off levels for several commonly used drug tests in pre-employment screening and other types of testing, like those used by probation officers.
Saliva Drug Test Cutoff Levels
|
Drug Being Tested |
Screening Cut-off |
Confirmation Cut-off |
|
Amphetamines |
150 ng/ml |
120 ng/ml |
|
Cocaine |
15 ng/ml |
6 ng/ml |
|
Cannabis |
3 ng/ml |
1.5 ng/ml |
|
Methamphetamines |
120 ng/ml |
120 ng/ml |
|
Opiates |
30 ng/ml |
30 ng/ml |
|
Oxycodone |
30 ng/ml |
30 ng/ml |
|
PCP |
3 ng/ml |
1.5 ng/ml |
|
|
|
|
Lab-Based Urine Drug Test Cutoff Levels
|
Drug Being Tested |
Screening Cut-off |
Confirmation Cut-off |
|
Amphetamines |
500 ng/ml |
250 ng/ml |
|
Cocaine |
150 ng/ml |
100 ng/ml |
|
Cannabis |
50 ng/ml |
15 ng/ml |
|
MDA-analogues |
500 ng/ml |
250 ng/ml |
|
Opiates |
2000 ng/ml |
2000 ng/ml |
|
6-Acetylmorphine |
10 ng/ml |
10 ng/ml |
|
Opiates (semi-synthetic) |
300 ng/ml |
100 ng/ml |
|
Oxycodone |
100 ng/ml |
100 ng/ml |
|
PCP |
25 ng/ml |
25 ng/ml |
Urine 9-Panel Drug Test Cutoff Levels
|
Drug Being Tested |
Screening Cut-off |
Confirmation Cut-off |
|
Amphetamines |
1000 ng/ml |
500 ng/ml |
|
Cocaine |
300 ng/ml |
150 ng/ml |
|
Cannabis |
50 ng/ml |
15 ng/ml |
|
Opiates |
2000 ng/ml |
2000 ng/ml |
|
PCP |
25 ng/ml |
25 ng/ml |
|
Barbiturates |
300 ng/ml |
300 ng/ml |
|
Methadone |
300 ng/ml |
200 ng/ml |
|
Propoxyphene |
300 ng/ml |
200 ng/ml |
|
Benzodiazepines |
300 ng/ml |
200 ng/ml |
Hair Follicle Drug Test Cutoff Levels
|
Drug Being Tested |
Screening Cut-off |
Confirmation Cut-off |
|
Amphetamines |
300 pg/mg |
300 pg/mg |
|
Cocaine |
300 pg/mg |
300 pg/mg |
|
Cannabis |
1 pg/mg |
0.1 pg/mg |
|
Opiates |
500 pg/mg |
500 pg/mg |
|
PCP |
300 pg/mg |
300 pg/mg |
Translating the Numbers
We get it; most people have no idea how much 50 nanograms of cannabis is. To them, it’s just a number on a chart. The best way to make sense of the different measurements is to understand that even the tiniest trace can mean a positive result depending on the illegal substance. So, be careful.
Take cannabis, for example. A recurring question is if you’re in a room where people are smoking cannabis, and you are not, can you still test positive for the substance? The answer is a surprising yes. A study conducted by Oxford in 2015 showed that non-smokers, when exposed to large quantities of cannabis in a closed room with little ventilation, can still fail a urine test (i.e., showed 15-50 ng/ml of cannabinoid metabolites in their urine).
Another study showed that people in a commonplace with some exposed ventilation had some amounts of THC in their system, but not enough to fail a drug test. So, in layman’s terms, one puff of a joint is enough to fail. The same goes for a nibble of that special brownie.
Countrywide Testing
Understanding how and if you may fail your drug test can be stressful. Especially if it’s for the sake of employment. A good rule of thumb is that failing is a high likelihood if you’ve done drugs in the recent past. If you are genuinely unsure or concerned about how to handle your upcoming drug screen, fret not. Countrywide Testing has a variety of resources available to help you understand your forthcoming test, as well as a plethora of products for you to test yourself at home to give you insight before the actual test.
If you’re interested in learning more about our services, contact us today to learn more!