Thursday, July 9, 2009

Urine Adulteration, Part 2

In our last conversation we discussed the ability of an individual to prevent the detection of drug use by simply diluting his or her urine. Today we will discuss NITRITE, one of a group of chemicals that have been used to beat a urine drug test.

Nitrite containing products are available on the Internet for the express purpose of masking drug use. Products such as Klear and Whizzies contain nitrite. Nitrite, in high enough concentrations, such as those seen following the addition of Klear or Whizzies to a urine sample, will interfere with both the initial immunoassay test used in the drug screen and also with the confirmatory GC/MS test, causing a false negative result. In the confirmatory test the nitrite actually causes the decomposition of the drug, rendering it undetectable. These effects are most apparent at masking marijuana use but nitrite also interferes with the ability to detect other drug classes in urine.

Nitrite is a normal constituent of urine, but normally occurring levels are much lower than those obtained following the addition of these nitrite-containing adulteration products. No effect on drug testing occurs at these normally occurring levels.

If you have any questions or comments please contact me at drclosson@drclosson.com