For the experts who know about drug testing

[BandAide]

I know a girl who just had a baby. Her baby wasn't aloud to leave the hospital with her because he tested positive for opiates, and instead he's gone into a detox program and then on to live with relatives for six months.

This girl SWEARS she hasn't used any drugs (though, at the beginning of her pregnancy I do believe she used heroine. It was before she knew she was pregnant, for what it's worth [not much, but still, something.])

Now, do you think that the heroine in her body 8 months previous could have effected a drug test done to a new born baby? And if she's innocent, are there other things that you know of that could make her baby test positive? I'm assuming that the hospital noted signs of withdrawl being that they put ihim in the detox program two days after his drug test came back. But, she also smoked about ten cigarettes a day during her pregnancy, could it be nicotene withdrawl and not drug?

I don't know if anyone will have any answers here, but you all seem to know more than google.

[nappydread]

ok bandaide...i'm neither a heroin user or a drug tester but i think that opiate detection can only occur within a week of use.

http://www.alwaystestclean.com/how_long.htm

...i got this from another site:
Cutoff and Detection Post Dose
The detection limit of the initial screen is 300 ng/ml, with a sensitivity of 20 ng/ml. This is sufficient to detect heroin use for approximately 24-48 hours post dose and codeine for somewhat longer.Confirmation is by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).
http://www.healthy.net/clinic/lab/labtest/007.asp

...however there are legal opiates (poppies, codeine, methadone) that would result in a false positive:)

...hehehe...sorry just wanted to add this link too...
http://www.idmu.co.uk/opiatetest.htm

peace

[Pedata]

It could be a false positive.

Just a side note- Some test labs are getting sued big time for messing up people's lives/employment with false positives. Word is that one day no one will dare run a test lab for fear of being sued into non-existance.

Peace,
Pedata

[ladywithafan]

Ok... where is the king of drug tests Toman? :cool:

[PEACE FROG]

Ive heard of poppy seed muffins giving false positive. Also I know a young fellow who had to get the family doctor to order a retest because of two false positives by the court. When it came from the different lab he was okay. :)

[toman]

ehhhh, I claim to be no expert on heroin. I have been under the impression that opiates other than those in most prescription drugs will stay in the system for around a month or so, about the same as marijuana. So I would say this case is probably a false positive or some kind of 'inside job'. i.e. a family member calls the doctor and says 'this girl is a junkie' or something. Don't take my word though, because like I say I know very little about hard drugs. I'm just a pothead. :-D

[delta9]

You sounded worried. I'm still gone. Quoth another:

Morphine can be made into heroin (diacetylmorphine) by the addition of two acetyl groups. Heroin, after injection, smoking, etc.. is quickly metabolized in the body to 6-acetylmorphine by the removal of one acetyl group and, then, morphine after the removal of the second acetyl group.

These antibodies, that are made for the testing device, are made to specifically bind to a drug such as morphine. However, the morphine antibody will also bind drugs that are very similar in chemical structure to morphine. Codeine is very similar in chemical structure to morphine, as are three synthetic narcotics: Dilaudid (hydromorphone), Percodan (oxycodone), and Vicodin (hydrocodone). The immunoassay screening tests for opiates will detect to varying degrees all of these narcotics. The synthetic narcotics Darvon (propoxyphene), Demerol (meperidine), and methadone are not detected by the opiate immunoassays.

Heroin, morphine, codeine, Dilaudid, Percodan and Vicodin are all narcotic analgesics that can be abused and are addictive. A positive morphine screen with test stick kits can be caused by any of these drugs and, also, consumption of several teaspoons of poppy seeds. This is true with all opiate immunoassays, whether lab or on-site rapid screens.

However, the 6-acetylmorphine metabolite is detectable in urine for only several hours after use of heroin, while morphine is detectable above the 2,000 ng/mL for about a day. It has been shown that consumption of poppy seeds in most cases will not result in a morphine concentration of 2,000 ng/mL or greater. With no 6-acetylmorphine found, detecting the presence of morphine or codeine. Codeine can be present from use of codeine and from use of heroin. If the codeine level is higher than the morphine level, the source is probably codeine use. Raising the cutoff for opiates from 300 ng/mL to 2,000 ng/mL reduces the time window of detection for heroin, morphine and codeine to about a day after use. It, also, eliminates most poppy seed positives.

[nappydread]

...you roll in like the wind....and roll out just as fast again :D

peace

[BandAide]

See, now I was given a c-section and received Demeral right before and was put on a morphene drip right before, which makes me wonder why my baby didn't test positive for opiates. From what I'm reading, it sounds as though they can't differentiate between these things in testing.

And Delta, it's nice to see your face (uh, well... not exactly your face... but you know what I'm saying.)

[nappydread]

hey bandaide....i'm not even remotely close to a baby expert...but do they always test newborns for opiates & other drugs?

just wondering??...I'm beginning to think toman was right about the 'inside job' thingy

thanks!

peace

[BandAide]

I dont' know about all states, but in my state all babies are mandatorily tested for drugs.

[nappydread]

hmm....very interesting. I guess its pretty variable in the laws from place to place. I just asked 2 baby experts at work here (north of the border!) and they knowingly have never had to go through newborn drug testing...i guess more research is need:)

peace