For example, a urine test will show weed in your system for a longer period of time than a blood test. If you are seriously concerned (and/or the thought of drug testing makes you anxious), your best bet is to hold off on consumption. After all, it’s impossible to know exactly how long weed will show up in your system. First-time users and infrequent users are much less likely to test positive for weed from a hair follicle test. It takes a decent amount of consumption for cannabis metabolites to how long does weed stay in your system reach hair follicle tissue. And with random drug tests still frequent in many U.S. workplaces, it pays to know how drug tests detect marijuana in your system, and what factors influence the amount of time weed can show up on randomized (and scheduled) drug screenings.
Can Secondhand Weed Smoke Cause a Positive Test?
The nationwide push to legalize marijuana got a major boost when the Biden administration announced a plan to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug in April 2024. A community connecting cannabis consumers, patients, retailers, doctors, and brands since 2008. Learn what THC-O is, if it’s legal, why it’s more potent, and if it’s safe to consume. In a 2004 review published in Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, the plasma concentration of THC peaks just three to eight minutes after inhalation and then decreases quickly with a half-life of about 30 minutes. Using cannabis during pregnancy can negatively affect fetal growth and development.
- Once the THC metabolites are stored in your hair, they will stay there until you cut your hair.
- As a result, a physician often needs to be able to distinguish between new usage of marijuana vs residual marijuana.
- Sweat and saliva reflect the presence of a drug within the body several hours later.
- Delta-9 THC undergoes metabolism in the liver to another psychoactive compound, 11-OH-THC, and then further metabolism to the inactive THCCOOH.
- Metabolism plays a significant role as it determines how quickly your body processes the cannabinoids found in marijuana.
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However, blood tests can detect THC metabolites for a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much you consume. Upon inhalation, active THC can be found in the bloodstream within seconds and detected in plasma for several hours, depending on the frequency of use and dosage. Meanwhile, for those who smoke marijuana occasionally or for the first time, “It would be unusual for the detection of cannabinoids in urine to extend beyond 3-4 days following the smoking episode” at the 50 ng/mL cutoff. This is drawn out to around one week for a more sensitive 20 ng/mL threshold.
How long does weed stay in your urine?
If you are subjected to a THC hair test anytime within three months of the last time you used delta-9, there’s a chance that a trace will still be left in the roots or follicles. THC doesn’t become present in your hair until about a week after you use it, though, so hair tests have to be administered a while after alleged delta-9 use to be considered accurate. Drug tests are commonly used in emergent situations, such as when an adolescent presents with altered mental status 7,8. In such cases, consent for the drug screen is inferred, and its results may be used to guide clinical management. Once the patient is stabilized, however, drug testing results may be helpful in determining subsequent management, particularly once confirmatory testing results are available.
Factors that may impact drug test results
When substances are ingested, they are absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and distributed to tissues of the body 9. Substances that are injected, inhaled or snorted bypass gastrointestinal absorption and are delivered immediately to tissues. Since many drugs are lipid soluble, they must undergo metabolism in the liver to render them water soluble which then allows them to be eliminated in urine. Blood and breath reflect moment-to-moment serum levels of an ingested substance, and offer the earliest and shortest windows of detection for substances 8. Sweat and saliva reflect the presence of a drug within the body several hours later.
- And lastly, it’s important to note that this article has been composed only as a GENERAL GUIDELINE.
- Regardless of collection procedures, validity checks are recommended for all urine specimens.
- Exercise will not significantly change the rate at which the body metabolizes THC.
- This method is more invasive, though is simpler and does not require a specialized bathroom.
- Standard hair tests typically look for drugs used over the last 90 days.
- The most common standard urine drug test can detect THC up to 90 days after inhalation/ingestion.
