Cocaine Drug Testing

Cocaine is one of the most popular recreational drugs around, which is why employers target it in random cocaine drug testing. The employee drugs test were once only the preserve of bus and train drivers, emergency services and the armed forces. Now they are performed by employers in almost every industry in an attempt to keep alcohol and drugs from the workplace.

Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant also known as “coke”, “crack”, “snow” and “flake” among other things. It provides users with a feeling of euphoria, stimulation, elevates the mood and acts as a diet suppressant. It can also make the user feel invulnerable, which is where many of the social problems associated with the drug comes in. It is present only a very short time in the bloodstream as it is metabolized very quickly in the body. Cocaine drug tests actually look for a chemical byproduct of this process, the metabolite Benzoylecgonine. There is a secondary metabolite in the drug, called Ecgonine Methyl Esther, but most test kits only look for Benzoylecgonine.

Cocaine is a very potent pain killer and was used as such for many years. It was used extensively in dentistry for numbing the nose, eyes and throat. As the non-medical use rose, its use in medicine became untenable. In fact, the first cocaine cartel wasn’t formed in South America, but in Amsterdam, between Merck, Sandoz and Hoffman-LaRoche in 1910. These drug companies manufactured the drug for medical use for many years.

The drug is the most powerful known stimulant and has been used in raw form for over 5000 years. South American Indians have chewed the cocoa leaf since time immemorial for social, medicinal and mystical uses. Before being refined, it’s almost impossible to overdose on it because even the most prolific coca chewer can only get so much into their bloodstream. Deaths from the drug only began appearing once it started being refined.

Cocaine hydrochloride is the white powder we recognize. It’s a result of crystallization that uses some of the most harmful chemicals known to man, yet produces what is essentially a salt. The more deadly crack cocaine is derived from cocaine hydrochloride which is treated with baking soda and solidified into rocks using a further chemical process. These are much more potent, and addictive, than the white powder.

Cocaine metabolites can be present in blood up to around 5-6 hours post dose, up to 12 hours in urine and 1 day in saliva. This varies with the physiology of the subject and the frequency of their drug use. Crack users can expect to have the metabolites present for a bit longer than “normal” cocaine due to the strength of the compound. A cocaine drug test may pick it up even longer than that, depending on the test and the subject. Tests vary depending on the manufacturer, with some being extremely sensitive and others not. While the sensitive ones make more sense from an employer perspective, they also carry the risk of providing false positives, which can be caused by anything from pain killers to cough medicine.