Failed drug test?!
Question: Someone I know was addicted to heroin and she is clean now and lives in a halfwayhouse. Well she went home for the weekend and when she came back to the sober house they drug tested her. Well she failed and it was positive for opiates. She said she did not use and she was taking cough n cold meds for her cold thats why it was positive. She also said she looked it up and certain over the counter cold meds can so for a false positive is that true? or did she use while she went home?
Answers: Someone I know was addicted to heroin and she is clean now and lives in a halfwayhouse. Well she went home for the weekend and when she came back to the sober house they drug tested her. Well she failed and it was positive for opiates. She said she did not use and she was taking cough n cold meds for her cold thats why it was positive. She also said she looked it up and certain over the counter cold meds can so for a false positive is that true? or did she use while she went home?
Drug tests don't lie.
Drug tests are not the nickel and dime science they once were. The company I was at tested when you were hired and then at random every year. They could tell any meds you were taking and the dosage you were taking.
Codeine is an opiate that can used as a cough supressant. I'm not sure what the laws are like outside Canada, but here you can just walk up to the pharmacist and request asprin, or any other otc pain reliever with codeine.
They are not labeled as "cough supressants" unless prescribed by a doctor.
Standard cold meds usually have an otc pain reliever as well as pseudoephedrine hydrochloride which is a stimulant, not a depressant like any opiate.
I'm not aware of any cold drugs that could produce a "false" positive.
EDIT: i just stumbled across a website that made me remember your question. apparently there are alll sorts of crazy things that can go wrong on certain types of drug tests.
http://www.askdocweb.com/falsepositives....
Nyquil can cause a false positive.
Though must heroin addicts know this though. They can be more specific and look at codiene morphine ratios to determine if it was heroin.
I would also not say was addicted, Is a recovering heroin addict, still addicted. Relapes unfortuanly is very common. It does not mean a person has failed recovery. It can take a long time to get a long time clean
Not sure what the 1/2way house rules are, but many programs work with heroin addicts as they are so likley to replase. Hopefully she is on some sort of medication like suboxone that can assist with cravings. Without some sort of medcation maintence, methadone, suboxone, naloxone which are generally used for months if not years, then the occurrance or relapse is really high.
Please consider the idea of progress not perfection.