Published: 11/08/2024By: Claire Young
Dealing with a false positive can be very stressful. It can easily lead to termination or disqualification from a job opportunity. In some cases, it can result in legal consequences and damage your reputation both personally and professionally.
The emotional toll can be heavy as well, affecting your peace of mind and adding a lot of stress. Even if you’ve never done drugs before, you can still get a false positive due to factors like certain medications, foods, or medical conditions that can interfere with the test results.
That’s why knowing how to dispute a false positive drug test is so important. It can save you from a lot of unnecessary mental stress down the line.
In this article, we are going to explain what a false positive drug test is, how you can dispute it, and how you can run a background check on yourself to make sure it doesn’t appear on your records.
What Is a False Positive Drug Test?
No drug test is perfect. A false positive drug test is when the test incorrectly indicates the presence of drugs in a person’s system. There are a lot of reasons why this can happen. Here are some of them:
- Medications: Certain prescription or over-the-counter medications can trigger a false positive. Some medications that can lead to a false positive include antidepressants like bupropion, fluoxetine, and trazodone, antibiotics such as amoxicillin and ampicillin, over-the-counter antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and antipsychotic medication like quetiapine (Seroquel). Phentermine, a weight-loss pill, shares a chemical similarity with amphetamines, which can sometimes result in a false positive on drug tests. If you’re taking any of these medications, then let your healthcare provider know before taking the test so they can interpret the results correctly.
- Food: Foods like poppy seeds, pizza, tonic water, hemp seeds, and any cannabidiol (CBD) product containing THC can also cause a false positive drug test. Most healthcare providers will advise you to avoid consuming these items before a drug test to prevent any potential confusion in the results.
- Mouthwash and Hand Sanitizer: Some mouthwashes and hand sanitizers contain alcohol, which can often cause a false positive for alcohol in certain tests. While this doesn’t affect drug tests for substances like amphetamines or opioids, it’s important to be aware of this possibility, especially if you’ve used alcohol-containing products shortly before testing.
- Testing Errors: Sometimes, a false positive can occur due to errors in the testing process, such as sample contamination, mishandling of specimens, improper calibration of equipment, or even clerical mistakes in recording and reporting results. These errors can very easily lead to incorrect interpretations of drug test outcomes.
Types of Drug Tests
There are multiple types of drug tests. Some of the most common ones include urine tests, which detect recent drug use; saliva tests, often used for roadside screenings; hair follicle tests, which can detect drug use over a longer period; and blood tests, typically used in medical settings to detect current drug levels.
Each type of test has its own advantages and limitations, depending on the specific needs of the testing situation.
In most cases, you’ll be tested for five categories of drugs:
- Amphetamines
- Cocaine
- Marijuana (THC)
- PCP (phencyclidine)
- Opiates
There are other categories for which you can be tested. These include barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, ethanol, hydrocodone, MDMA, methadone, methaqualone, or propoxyphene.
When Is Drug Testing Used?
There are various situations where drug testing is used. Research shows that 50 to 75 percent of medium and large organizations test current or prospective employees for drugs.
Most employers require drug testing before hiring, but in safety-critical industries like transportation and construction, regular drug testing may be necessary to maintain safety standards.
Industries like transportation, healthcare, and government frequently require drug testing as part of the pre-employment process. It’s not as common in sectors such as retail, hospitality, and tech.
Drug testing is also common in competitive sports to make sure athletes aren’t using performance-enhancing substances. This helps maintain fairness and integrity in competitions, ensuring a level playing field among athletes.
Courts may require drug testing as part of probation, parole, or child custody arrangements to monitor sobriety compliance. It’s also common in rehabilitation centers and treatment programs to make sure people adhere to their recovery plans and maintain sobriety.
Random drug testing is a common practice throughout America to discourage substance abuse. However, in most states, employers need to inform their employees beforehand about their policies regarding random drug testing. In some states, like New York, drug testing can’t be used to detect marijuana.
How Do I Dispute a False Positive Drug Test?
You’ve never done drugs before, and you’ve already told your healthcare practitioner about the medications you’re on. You even made sure not to eat anything before the test, and yet, you find yourself facing a positive drug test result.
It can be quite stressful, so the first thing to do is try to stay calm. False positives are common and, as mentioned above, can happen due to a number of reasons.
Get in touch with your company’s HR or the facility that took the test as quickly as you can. Gather all the important documents, including prescriptions for medications, medical records, and any correspondence with your healthcare provider. Clearly explain the situation, and let them know that you have never used illicit drugs and didn’t consume anything that could’ve influenced the test results.
Talk to your doctor and ask them if any of the medications you’ve been taking could’ve caused a false positive on a drug test. If they say yes, then you need written proof from them to support your case when disputing the result. Get them to write a letter or a statement that you can show to your company’s HR or the testing providers.
Once you have submitted all the evidence, it’s time to request a retest. Contact the testing facility or your employer’s HR department to ask for a retest of the original sample. Most employers are aware that false positives in drug tests are fairly common and won’t hesitate to grant your request for a retest to confirm the accuracy of the results.
In most cases, you should be able to request a retest without needing to present any evidence at all. Having documented proof on your side, however, can make a huge difference. An employer might decide not to hire you based on an initial positive result, even if it’s false, so you have to act quickly.
Let them know that you want to get retested as soon as you find out that it’s a false positive.
Will a Drug Test Show up on My Record?
A failed drug test won’t show up on your records. It’ll only be visible to your employer and the testing facility (who won’t know who you are). A positive test could, however, lead to a criminal conviction, which will show up on your record. This can damage your career and make it challenging for you to find a job in the future.
If you’ve already disputed a false positive drug test and want to make sure that it doesn’t appear on your record, then we recommend using US People Search’s people lookup tool. It’s a great tool that you can use to find out the identity of an unknown caller or even run an OIG background check.
With the help of this search engine, you can run a background check on yourself and make sure that the disputed false positive result doesn’t show up.
On the off chance that it does, then you need to contact your company’s HR or the employer as soon as possible and let them know that it was confirmed to be a false positive and you’ve already disputed it. Contact the testing facility as well so they can update the records and inform the employer of the corrected information.
To use the people search tool, simply type your name on the site and press enter. In a few minutes, you’ll see a report which contains detailed information about you. It’ll include things like your phone number, email address, employment history, and criminal records.
Take a good look at it to make sure it doesn’t show your false positive drug test result, especially if you’ve already disputed it. The tool collects data from public records, so if you can see the false positive drug test result, then employers will be able to see it as well.
Avoid Taking Anything That Could Trigger a False Positive
The most important thing to remember before you take a drug test is to make sure that you don’t consume anything that could trigger a false positive. Medications and food like fluoxetine, amoxicillin, and poppy seeds contain ingredients that can influence the test results.
Just remember that drug tests aren’t always accurate, and the people who are testing you can make mistakes, too. Request a retest as soon as possible to double-check the results and make sure everything is fair.
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