Cocaine is one of the most commonly used illicit drugs by Americans. It affects brain and also causes several health problems including heart attack, strokes, seizures, and respiratory failure. It may also lead to sudden death even at the first use. Cocaine drug tests are conducted for examining the consumption of the drug. Different tests can be conducted for checking the presence of cocaine in the user.
Urine Drug Testing
This is the most common method used for testing cocaine. You can detect cocaine or its metabolites in urine for about 3 days. Urine drug tests are inexpensive and hence affordable. It can be conducted at home using certain home drug test kits easily. The SAMHSA cut-off level for detecting cocaine in urine is 150ng/ml.
Saliva Drug Testing
It is easy to conduct saliva testing for detecting cocaine. A scrub or a swab is kept in the mouth of the user for collecting saliva sample. The cut-off level for the test is 20ng/ml. Cocaine that is consumed before one day when the test is conducted can be detected by saliva drug test. Instant results are obtained with this test. The most recent drug abuse can be detected by the saliva test.
Hair Drug Testing
Highly reliable results can be obtained by hair drug tests. A hair sample taken from head, arms or legs of the user is checked for the presence of cocaine metabolites. Cocaine consumption can be detected in hair for up to 90 days. The cut-off level for the test is 150ng/ml.
In addition to these, blood test is conducted for detecting cocaine at emergency situations like accidents. It is expensive and also takes lot of time for getting results.