Marijuana enthusiasts are having the worst time when it comes to drug testing. The reason behind that lies in the fat-solubility of THC, the active component of pot. And while most drug metabolites get out of your system in a few days, marijuana metabolites require weeks and sometimes even months to expel.
However, when the time comes, a question remains – did the detox work, and is my system clean enough to pass a drug test?
Luckily, there are marijuana test kits, which you can use to check if your body is clean of illicit drugs or their residues. In our reviews below we’ll discuss what are the best at home drug test kits and which home drug tests stand out when it comes to product quality.
What Is Home Drug Test?
Besides lab drug testing, there are instant drug tests that are usually sold as home drug tests, which are quickly done, but also slightly less accurate. They’re used by people drug testing their kids at home, or drug users going through a natural detox, for purposes of monitoring their progress.
These drug tests are available as over-the-counter products at all the major pharmacies and stores, in the form of strips, which are dipped in the collected urine sample. These strips perform a biochemical reaction with the pee, measuring the concentration of drug metabolites in the solution.
If the concentration of metabolites is above the established limit, the visible colored line will appear in the region of the respective test. However, this only indicates the presence of certain drugs (like marijuana) or classes of drugs. For more detailed drug testing, the urine sample must be submitted to a facility, where it will undergo a more thorough examination.
When done correctly, best home kits may provide results (positive or negative) that correlate closely with the results provided by a drug testing facility. However, the accuracy significantly depends on the manufacturer and the quality of the product.
At Home Drug Screening Accuracy
Cheap at home drug tests may provide incorrect or misleading results since several external factors can affect the drug testing process.
When choosing at home drug test kit, pay attention to the drug panel. Drug panel refers to the number of illegal drugs your test can detect, and provide you with appropriate results. Home test kits have between four and 12 panels. Choosing a more comprehensive panel may show you not only the drug but also the substances your drugs were cut with.
Keep in mind that the panel number only states the raw number of drugs the test can detect. Two different drug tests with the same amount of panels may test for entirely different drugs and metabolites. So, pay close attention that the home drug test you’re buying is rated for the drug in question.
Where To Buy Drug Test Kits Near Me
For whatever purposes, you can obtain at home drug test kit at major stores and pharmacies, like Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree, Rite Aid, Walgreens, or CVS. You can even purchase them through e-commerce sites like Amazon, etc.
If you’re looking to purchase at home tests online, we strongly suggest you buy the desired product from specialized online shops or the manufacturer’s website. Specialized online shops usually have a wider variety and feature higher quality products.
On the other hand, purchasing a home drug testing kit directly from the manufacturer means you’re getting the best deal in terms of price and product quality. Either way, it’s best to check reviews before heading to the store or clicking the “order” button.
Besides purchasing directly from the manufacturer, it’s always a good idea to visit local smoke shops and inquire about different brands. The people working there are usually more than polite, and will gladly answer any questions you might have. Also, you get to do another crucial thing – check the product’s shelf life.
Smoke shops that sell synthetic urine near you usually have home tests as well
Best home drug test kits usually have a shelf life of up to 24 months, or two years, since the date of manufacture, with the expiration date printed on the package. Going to brick-and-mortar stores allows you to inspect the product, packaging, and expiration date personally.
Besides ordering directly from the manufacturer, purchasing from specialized stores ensures you get the right quality product, with a valid expiration date.
Best Home Drug Test Reviews
Most detox kits on the market come equipped with one or more at home drug tests, to monitor your detox progress. However, we don’t recommend using these, as they tend to be generic test strips of poor quality. Our reviews below cover the most popular brands and the best ones are listed first.
Also, there’s a question of money-back guaranty when using such products. If you pass a test provided with the detox kit but fail a real test, you’re not eligible for a refund. In other words, the manufacturer of the detox product will not return your money, since you passed the test they provided.
High-quality tests, though a bit pricier, are significantly more accurate and offer more comprehensive drug panels. Using best quality drug test kits ensures that the metabolite levels in your urine sample are displayed correctly.
At Home Urine Drug Tests
Quick Test Plus Kit
Made by the same company that produces Quick Fix, a renowned synthetic urine product, Quick Test kit provides an accurate way of drug testing your urine. This kit features two 10-panel tests that detect positive drug use, including THC (marijuana), PCP, MDMA, cocaine, amphetamines, meth, barbiturates, oxycodone, benzodiazepines, and morphine.
The complete pack contains the tests mentioned above, two cups for collecting urine samples, and 3 ounces of the lab-grade control sample (Quick Fix artificial urine) and it’s our #1 pick in this review. The kit also includes detailed instructions on how to perform and read the tests.
You perform drug testing by collecting the pee (your, or someone else’s) into one of the cups. Pour the Quick Fix synthetic urine, which is the closest thing to natural human urine, into the other cup. Test both samples by dipping the paper strip tips into the liquid, for no longer than 10 – 15 seconds.
Lab-grade samples will always read negative, so you can use it to compare it with results from the real urine. For further clarification of test results, please consult the instruction manual provided with the product.
It will, without a doubt, tell you if your urine is clean enough to pass an upcoming urinalysis. You can purchase this drug test kit from manufacturer’s official store:
Twelve Panel PreScreen Plus Mini Drug Test
PreScreen Plus Mini is a relatively new product on the market; however, it already gained popularity and not without a good reason. The product is entirely accurate, easy to use, and features comprehensive 12-panel coverage to detect different type of positive drug use. All of that, coupled with 18 months of shelf life, comes at a very affordable price tag.
This FDA approved kit comes with a rather efficient cup design, which includes five test strips that detect 12 different classes of drugs. If you just need a simple cup test with no extras, PreScreen Plus Mini is our recommendation.
- Produce your sample by urinating directly into the cup, filling it between the designated lines (30ml to 110ml). After you’ve collected the pee, close the lid to preserve temperature, and wait 5 minutes for the results to show.
- Peel off the label on the cup to reveal the results of the test. For a visual interpretation of the test, please consult the instructions provided with the product.
- PreScreen Plus Mini also comes equipped with an additional 25 strips (5×5) for future drug testing. It also includes a temperature strip and adulteration strips that are used to check the validity of the provided sample.
Overall, PreScreen Plus Mini is an excellently designed and well thought off drug test kit. It’s an FDA approved product that is extremely easy to use and provides up to 99% accuracy when compared to regular lab tests. Here’s a link to the official store:
Clear Choice Practice Kit
You can always skip natural detox and submit artificial urine for testing. There are good-quality products (click here for reviews) on the market whose chemical composition mirrors that of natural human urine. However, most companies check the samples for the correct temperature and adulterants before testing for drugs.
That’s why Clear Choice, a company that produces Sub Solution, one of the best fake urine products on the market, came up with The Practice Kit. It allows you to check if you followed the instructions of Sub Solution or Quick Luck correctly, making sure that your sample is valid.
Instead, it allows you to practice heating up and maintaining the correct temperature of the urine using a heat pad or heat activator powder. Using this kit is relatively easy, regardless of the heating method you choose.
You fill the 3 oz mixing container with room temperature water, up to the indicated line, and check the temperature strip. The optimal temperature range of natural human urine is between 94°F and 100°F, and if your reading doesn’t match, you’ll have to heat the sample.
Please, consult the provided instructions on how to use a heat pad or a heat activator powder. Pay special attention when adding the powder, since adding too much can quickly overheat your sample, rendering it useless. Here’s a link to the official store:
Easy@Home Drug Test
Easy@Home Drug Test is a pretty known and wide-spread product since you can purchase it online or at Walmart and other retail stores. The product comes from a trusted manufacturer of health products and pregnancy tests.
- Easy At Home provides both the strip tests or cup tests, so you can choose an option that you find more convenient. Their best product is a 12-panel at home drug test, which detects the metabolites of almost any common street drug.
- The manufacturer claims 99% accuracy; however, we found that the test offers somewhat confusing results if the second line appears faint. That said, the Easy@Home is FDA approved and meets the high standards of drug screening.
- The kit comes in a large pack of multiple tests, which should be enough for future testing, if any. Besides good accuracy and ease of use, the kit features a 24-months shelf life, so you can store the product and use it when required.
QuickScreen At Home Drug Test
QuickScreen at home drug test kits sell over two million pieces a year, because it’s easy to use, and provides excellent accuracy. This 12 panel drug test kit comes as a test cup, with the built-in timer, and an adulteration detection.
The kit uses unique binding technology, which combines antibodies and gold conjugates onto test strips, which are “fused” to the cup. Test strips themselves feature a specialized coating membrane, which ensures higher levels of accuracy.
Besides being accurate, the test is easy to use – you only have to produce a sample, filling up the cup to a designated “fill to here” line. Put the lid on the sample container and wait until the “Results Ready” indicator turns red, which should take no longer than five minutes. Please, take into consideration that the pink test line on the test cup still reads as a negative result.
However, though highly accurate, occasional “misfires” tend to happen, leading us to believe that the product isn’t as reliable as advertised. If you’re out of options, and this test is the only one available, please repeat the test several times, to be sure.
At Home Hair Follicle Drug Tests
HairConfirm Express Drug Test
Hair follicle drug testing is proven to be a highly effective and accurate method of drug detection. However, considering it’s a lab drug test, it costs a little extra. If you’re a parent wanting to prevent drug abuse, a hair follicle test is a discreet way of having your child tested. It’s the best hair test kit in our opinion.
Hairconfrim kit is specially designed so that it detects multiple drugs and provides a 90-day history report of drug use. Producing and securing the sample can be done relatively easily by checking your kid’s bedsheets, towel, or a hat. After collecting, mail the hair sample using the pre-paid shipping envelope, to the Hairconfirm facility, and wait for results.
Read how long can weed be detected in hair in this article
The Hairconfirm facility checks all the samples with RIA scans to confirm the presence of any type of drug. If the presence of drugs is found, before reporting a positive result, the company performs a confirmatory GC/MS test, for more complete results.
Hair Confirm tests for the five most common drug classes (over ten drugs), and since it requires no personal information, the test is entirely confidential. So, if you wish to test your loved ones, or yourself discreetly, Hairconfirm At Home Hair Drug Test is a very straightforward, and well put-together product. Here’s a link to the official store:
At Home Mouth Swab Drug Tests
Five Panel SwabScreen Oral Drug Test
SwabScreen Oral Drug Test analyzes the saliva sample for up to five parent drugs and their respective metabolites. It provides a clean and less invasive sample collection, eliminating the need for privacy and thus reducing the chances of adulteration. This is our top pick for saliva tests.
SwabScreen saliva tests are entirely accurate, effective, high-quality products that come at an affordable price. They’re easy to use, requiring no specialized knowledge to perform the analysis. Simply take off the cap, and insert the sponge into the person’s mouth, collecting the saliva from inside the mouth, and underneath the tongue.
Keep the sponge in the mouth for about three minutes, or until the sponge becomes soft and fully saturated by the saliva. After that, take the collecting device from the mouth, and insert it into the screening device, securing the collector cap in place.
Keep in mind that the device has to be upright, on a clean and level surface, for the duration of the test. After about 10 minutes, the colored indicators should appear in the test result area. Please consult the instructions provided with the product to interpret the results correctly.
Overall, we liked the SwabScreen Oral Drug Test, since it provides accurate results, detects over 12 drugs (including marijuana and cocaine), and eliminates the chances of sample contamination. Here’s a link to the official store:
Over The Counter Drug Test Uses
Over-the-counter drug test kits are specifically aimed at individuals that are going through a natural detox process to monitor its progress.
When facing a workplace drug test, you should always go through a natural detox, supplemented by detox products, in the form of pills or drinks. Depending on your toxin exposure, natural detox might take from a couple of days to a couple of weeks to complete.
The purpose of an at home drug test, as a part of your detox kit, is to monitor your cleansing process. This way, if the home test provides negative results, you can confidently submit your sample or resort to other methods if the results are still positive.
We recommend hair follicle testing to parents that wish to test their children. “Pee in this cup!” method may breach a trust barrier between parents and their kids, especially if the results come negative1. Hair follicle testing is far more discreet, as you can obtain a hair sample by searching their bed.
And if it provides negative results, your kid doesn’t need to know that you’ve breached trust with good intentions. However, if the test results come positive, you should come up with an action plan. Taking your child to the doctor’s office for testing is not an adequate solution.
When testing your children, taking them to an independent facility or testing them yourself by using an at home drug test kit is your best option.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Do Drugs Stay In Your Saliva?
It depends on the drug and several other factors. Different drugs produce different effects, so it stands to reason that their metabolites differentiate by the amount of time they stay in your system. For example, ecstasy can be detected in the saliva for up to 24 hours after use, while cocaine stays in the saliva for 48 hours.
Marijuana, on the other hand, can only be detected for up to four hours in the saliva, and up to 90 days in urine samples. However, these timeframes are based on medicinal and scientific data, meaning that individual results may vary.
It all comes down to the amount and potency of the used drug, individual’s metabolism rate, tolerance, and other biological factors.
Is Faint Line On A Drug Test Still Considered A Negative?
Well, the proper answer is: it is, and it should be. If you read the instructions provided with any home drug test kit, you’ll understand that a faint line still reads as a negative result. We took the liberty of contacting several manufacturers who universally responded that the line’s intensity doesn’t mean anything, as long as the line is visible.
They also stated that the intensity of the line shouldn’t be interpreted as a measure of the number of drug metabolites in the sample. The truth is that different drug metabolites produce different chemical reactions, which can cause slight discoloration of the test line.
The problem with slight discoloration of the test line is that employers sometimes interpret the faint line as a presence of drugs. Please be careful not to fall victim to this misconception.
Conclusion
At home drug test kits are the best possible solution when it comes to monitoring the progress of your detox procedure. They’re cheaper than actual lab tests, but also not as comprehensive.
When appropriately used, high-quality home test kits, like the one described in this article, tend to be quite reliable and accurate up to 99%. Quick Test Plus Kit and PreScreen Plus Mini drug test are the most recommended tests, due to the accuracy and reliability they provide.
Hairconfirm Express hair drug test is highly recommended to parents that wish to safely test their children for marijuana, cocaine and other substances at home. Though pricier, this type of test allows for complete confidentiality and discretion.
The purpose of home drug testing is to clarify whether you can confidently submit your sample for actual testing, or choose another method of passing a urine screen.