Will an instant drug test show the amount of drugs in a person’s system?

Will an instant drug test show the amount of drugs in a person’s system?

A customer asks, “Will an instant drug test show the amount of drugs in a person’s system?”  We’d like to know whether a person uses a lot of drugs or is a very casual drug user.”

All the on-site drugs of abuse tests on the market today are “qualitative” tests that show results in terms of pass or fail.  Currently there are no on-site drugs of abuse tests that give quantitative results in terms of the amount of drug that is detected.  Instrumented laboratory testing is the only way to get quantitative results.  Laboratories will typically give the quantitative amount of a drug that is confirmed positive.

Knowing the amount of drug in a person’s specimen does not necessarily allow one to identify individuals who are heavy and chronic drug users from those who are casual and infrequent drug users.  So many factors can affect the amount drug in a specimen that it is not possible to reliably extrapolate an individual’s history of drug use from the amount of drug present in a specimen.