Effective immediately, you can order three new kinds of drug screens for your clients through Span Corporation. The first is an expanded hair drug screen panel that tests for the regular five substances and up to twelve additional drugs or drug classifications. The second is a fingernail drug screen, that not only tests for those same seventeen substances, but also provides an expanded detection window. The third, ChildGuard®, is a special kind of hair test for children, designed to detect either exposure to or ingestion of drugs.
Substances available in the seventeen panel tests for both expanded hair and fingernail include Amphetamines, Cannabinoids, Cocaine, Opiates, Phencyclidine, Benzodiazepines, Barbiturates, Methadone, Propoxyphene, Oxycodone, Meperidine, Tramadol, Fentanyl, Sufentanil, Ketamine, Buprenorphine, and Zolpidem (Ambien). Add-ons are available too, including one for EtG alcohol. The detection window in the hair screens is three months; six months for the fingernail screen, excepting EtG alcohol, which is three months.
ChildGuard® hair exposure testing detects drugs for up to ninety days. These include Amphetamines, Cannabinoids, Cocaine, Opiates, Phencyclidine, Benzodiazepines, Barbiturates, Methadone and Propoxyphene. Exposure to these drugs can occur through contact with drug smoke, contact with the sweat of a user, contact with the actual drug, or accidental or intentional ingestion of the drug. If a drug metabolite is detected, that indicates the drug has been ingested. If the drug itself is detected, that indicates exposure.
So, why have we added these new options? In the past, we could only test for five drugs/classes of drugs in our hair screens—Amphetamines, Opiates, Cocaine, Marijuana, and PCP (Phencyclidine). Generally this is more than adequate. Nonetheless, customers occasionally asked us about testing for Benzodiazepines, Methadone, Fentanyl, or other controlled substances. In other instances, we’ve been asked if we could detect drug use further back than three months. On other occasions we have been asked if there were any way to determine whether or not a child has been exposed to a certain drug. Until now we were unable to meet those requests. But having partnered with a national reference laboratory, United States Drug Testing Laboratories, Inc., Span is finally able to offer those enhanced services.
Why would you want to use these new screen types? Frankly, for most of your screening needs you wouldn’t. But certain situations call for different responses, and we can think of several that could benefit from using one of our new testing methods:
- You need a good historical background on a client’s substance abuse, but his drug of choice is not one that is normally tested for on the standard hair screen.
- Family or neighbors report that your client has been drinking, but she has always tested negative on her random oral fluid screens.
- The judge ordered a hair screen on your client, but your client had already shaved off all his body hair.
- Your client has a history of prescription drug abuse and tests for most of those drugs are not available on the standard screens she currently takes.
- The judge wants a historical overview of your client’s drug use longer than 90 days.
- Parents are divorced and the mother has custody of the children. Father is seeking custody and claims mother abuses Methamphetamine in the presence of the children. Judge needs to determine whether or not the children have been exposed to Methamphetamine.
- A child who is exposed to drugs lives in a dangerous environment even if he does not ingest those drugs. Courts and caseworkers need this information in order to make the best decisions for the welfare of those children.
We’re sure you can think of others.
The expanded hair screen panels, the fingernail screening panels, and ChildGuard® are priced significantly higher than our regular screen offerings, so they should be used wisely and sparingly and only as part of a well organized drug and alcohol testing program. For additional information or price quotes on these new options, call Mike Grosh at 734-623-7726, or email mikegrosh@spancorp.com.
