One of the most common questions retailers get is, “will I pass a drug test if I’m just taking CBD?” It comes down to whether you take something on the spectrum or if there are isolates in your CBD products. If your CBD gummies or tincture are either broad, wide, or full spectrums, there is always the possibility of trace amounts of THC and therefore the potential to pop hot on a test. But if your chosen product is made with isolates, then I’d say you’re pretty safe.
Now when it comes to mandatory drug tests, many cry foul when a company requires THC drug testing using the argument of local legality. After all, they don’t care if you have beers on the weekend, or an open script for heavy painkillers, as long as you can do your job without risk to the company or your fellow employees. Yet when it comes to marijuana, even if you are a medical marijuana card holder, there is often a hard line in the sand against it. And for the most part, for good
reason. Would you want your surgeon stoned before your operation? Do you want that gravel-hauler driver that shares the road with you all grassed up? Would you want your babysitter high watching your terrible-two toddler? I think not.
But there is also a flip side. That surgeon may take a low dose edible before bed to ensure he is properly rested. That truck driver may take a few drops of a CBD tincture that has a splash of THC in it for his bad back. That babysitter may take a micro dose as a part of her morning regimen to combat anxiety instead of the tweaker Adderall. None of these examples will render these professionals stoned, and they are using cannabis as medicine, responsibly.
There are so many varying degrees of “intoxication” when it comes to cannabis. You may be someone who occasionally takes a gummy to help shut your head off at night and by morning you only feel well rested. And then there are those that huff on a vape pen all day, every day. Both of these examples will pop hot on a drug test. Because THC is stored in our fat cells, cannabis will hang around in our system much, much longer than the buzz does.
Ex: You enjoy a few cocktails over Labor Day weekend and the thought of failing a roadside sobriety test on the following Tuesday just isn’t realistic. But if you smoke a joint on the same weekend and are subjected to a roadside swab on the way to dropping your kids off at school three weeks later, you will fail the test. So, even though the buzz is long gone, you are now being charged with driving while intoxicated and child endangerment.
The type of test, how often, and how much THC you use, has a lot to do with how long you will be
coming in hot on a drug test. “Research on the amount of time a test can detect cannabis shows a wide range of averages. Research from 2017 estimates a detection window for a single cannabis cigarette of about 3 days. The same study emphasizes that detection windows vary and depend on how often a person smokes.
Technology and science must catch up sooner rather than later when it comes to cannabis intoxication. It is imperative that testing for marijuana, roadside or not, be as precise as other impairment tests. People are still having their lives ruined by inaccurate drug testing, and it has to stop. As it stands now, positive test results do not equal intoxication. Read that again.
But if you are someone who likes to brag that you are a better driver when stoned: you are a part of the problem, you deserve the ticket. Nobody should ever, ever drive under the influence of anything that alters your cognition or your reaction time.
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