What is a 5-panel drug test? What is a 10-panel drug test? What is the panel for a DOT drug test? What drugs are we testing for in a workplace environment. Can I test for Fentanyl? In this video you can learn about drug test panels, you can learn what is a 13-panel drug test? You can order any of the standard drug test panels at Order Now, you can also call for ordering custom drugs – 866-843-4545.
Drug test panels are available for urine drug testing, hair drug testing and oral fluid drug testing. With oral fluid drug testing employers often do the specimen collection themselves at the workplace. You can order online urine drug testing or hair drug testing.
What is the five-panel drug test, what is the ten-panel drug test, what are the other drug test panels. See below about:
I did a video four or five years back called ‘beyond the 5 panel’. We were talking about the 5-panel drug test and what’s beyond it. So, we’re going to kind of update that and we’re going to talk today about common drug testing panels for employment testing, probation testing, individual testing. Let’s learn about common drug testing panels.
Joe Reilly, President of National Drug Screening. If you’ve done a drug test at any point in your life or you’re an employer that does drug testing, you’ve probably heard of what’s called the 5-panel drug test. And that’s pretty traditional; been around since the late 1980s. It’s what DOT uses as the gold standard for drug testing, but that 5-panel test has evolved over the years. It’s not the same today as it was 15 years ago.
So, it’s important to understand a little bit more about a 5-panel drug test, and then also talk about a 10-panel drug test or a 12-panel drug test, or a 17-panel drug test. So, let’s dive into that.
5-Panel Drug Test
The 5-panel drug test can be a urine specimen, a hair specimen, or an oral fluid specimen. And it should also have with it what we call ‘specimen validity testing’ at the laboratory, which is checking for specific gravity and creatine, pH levels, and potential oxidizing adulterants. Basically, validity testing to determine that it is in fact urine, and it hasn’t been a test that’s been tampered with.
So, there’s three or four versions of the traditional or standard five drug test, 5 panel drug test that are in use. And I always recommend the most recent 5 panel drug test; the same 5 panel drug test that DOT uses. And that drug test includes Marijuana, Cocaine, PCP or Phencyclidine, Amphetamines, and Opioids.
Instant or rapid drug testing is also popular. The most popular instant test is the 5-panel often also called 5 panel rapid drug test.
Now where we’ve seen some expansion on that 5 panel, is that under the Amphetamines, we’re also testing for Methamphetamines and we’re testing for MDMA or Ecstasy. Where we’ve also seen expansion on that 5-panel drug test, is the Opioids. We used to call it ‘opiates’ we call it Opioids. And the first change we saw was a metabolite called 6-Acetylmorphine, or 6AM for short or 6M for short, was added to the opiates panel to specifically detect heroin use.
We’ve also added what we call ‘expanded opiates’. Expanded opiates are Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone. So, I call this a 5-panel drug test with expanded opiates or a 5 panel DOT-like drug test. When I say ‘DOT-like’, I mean it’s the same configuration of drugs that is used for Department Of Transportation regulated drug testing.
So, we know what the 5 panel is, and I’ll always recommend that you use this 5 panel DOT-like that includes the expanded opiates.
10-Panel Drug Test
Now some folks in non-DOT testing, non-regulated testing, look at a 10-panel test. So that’s kind of our other standard type test, is the 10-panel test. The first five are the same and let’s also include the expanded opiates on the first five. Then we add Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Methaqualone, Methadone, and Propoxyphene. That gives us the standard 10 panel test. And in the drug testing industry and at the laboratories, everybody knows what a 10-panel test is.
Now it’s important to note that some labs are dropping the Methaqualone, and it’s now a 9-panel test. Why are they dropping the Methaqualone? That’s Quaaludes. Nobody uses them anymore. They’re not getting any positives anymore. Why spend the money to test for it? It’s still tested by many labs, but some labs are dropping it.
Other Drug Test Panels, Beyond the 5 and 10 Panel
So, we got the 5 panel. We got the 10 panel.
Now somebody calls me and says, ‘I need a 13-panel drug test’.
Well, I don’t know what that is. Okay?
Because when we go on, when we go beyond the 10 panel, there’s no standard. So, what are the three more drugs that someone wants when they say they need a 13-panel drug test? We need to know what they are. We need to know a list of the drugs that you want tested for.
Now, some of the common drugs that we see when we hear about a 13 panel or a 14 panel, or a 15 panel, some of those common drugs would be fentanyl. We’ve all heard about fentanyl late lately in the news on TV, in the movies; people are dying from fentanyl. So, fentanyl can be added. Drug testing for fentanyl is now available.
Ketamine, or horse tranquilizer. Young people are using ketamine. Tramadol, often used in hospital settings. Lot of hospital systems will test for Tramadol as well as fentanyl. They might also test for Meperidine.
And another big one we see is buprenorphine; often called BUP, b-u-p. Which is testing for Suboxone. Suboxone is an alternative medication for people who have previously been addicted to heroin, or Oxycontin, and they’re trying to get off those drugs, suboxone is prescribed.
However, some people that get Suboxone from their doctors sell it to their friends and their friends use it to get high. So, we see a lot of testing for buprenorphine, which is picking up the Suboxone.
Now, with urine testing, we can do the 10 panel, the 13 panel, we could go up in healthcare professional type testing, we go up to maybe like 20 different drugs. But we need to know what the drugs are.
Hair testing, we’re at about 17 panels. So, we have a 17-panel hair test. That’s going to include the ones I mentioned; fentanyl, ketamine, Tramadol, meperidine, buprenorphine.
Oral fluid testing is still somewhat limited. We see some of our labs can do the 9 panel that I mentioned, and some of our labs can add alcohol testing to that oral fluid test. So that’s available also.
Now, just to close out, it’s really important to understand in your drug testing program, ‘what are you testing for’. If you’ve had a drug testing program for 20 years, non-DOT drug testing program for the past 20 years, and nobody’s ever changed that 5 panel, you’re still doing the old 5 panel. And you’re not including Oxycontin, which is a drug that is being abused. Other expanded opiates ‘hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxymorphone’.
So, you got to know what you’re testing for as an employer. You know, someone looks high all the time. Someone’s falling asleep all the time. Productivity is off. You do the 5-panel drug test and they’re clean. Make sure you know what you’re testing for.
It’s important to understand the drug test panels as they are today in 2022.
Call my office, we can help you get started. Our number’s on the screen. We can set you up with drug testing for employers or individuals. You call today, we can get you a drug test today
