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Articles > Drug Testing Urine and Hair

Background and Notes:
For many employers today, job applicants must undergo drug testing. One company's drug policy states that all applicants must be drug free for at least six months prior to application. Applicants are often subjected to hair sample and urine analysis tests.

Hair grows approximately 1 cm / month. Drugs are molecules that can be attracted to the melanin in the hair by chemical bonding and intermolecular forces of attraction. Metabolites found in hair denote drug use at that time. Overall binding to the entire hair shaft denotes secondary exposure, as possibly at a party of concert where drugs are present. Eating poppy seeds may give a false positive result because they contain trace amounts of opiates that can be detected in urinalysis.

Knowledge and skills:
- The basic structure of hair and how drugs can bind to the melanin in the hair via chemical bonding and intermolecular forces of attraction.
- People should be able to analyze data and reach a conclusion about a person's exposure or use of drugs.

Fundamental understanding:
- Certain drugs such as opiates and marijuana can bind to the hair and be detected months after drug use or exposure.
- This binding is due to the characteristics of the drug molecules and the hair structure at the molecular level i.e. bonding and intermolecular forces due to polarity, charge and geometry of molecules.

Essential Questions:
- What does chemistry have to do with drug and hair interaction? People need to understand binding (chemical bonds) and binding sites in addition to intermolecular forces of attraction.
- What are the ethics of drug testing and its implications?

National standard (s):
- National content standard C: As a result of activities people should develop an understanding of the cell, molecular basis of heredity, biological evolution, interdependence of organisms, matter, energy and organization in living systems and behavior of organisms.