College Championship Athletes now subject to lower cutoff on THC than Department of Transportation (DOT) operators.

The NCAA's Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS) recently voted on Raising the standards for drug testing the competitive championship level athletes.  (learn more about NCAA Drug Testing)

They agreed on lowering the threshold / cutoff level for Marijuana (THC) testing to Five nanograms per milliliter. This change has already happened, since August 1st, 2013 these athletes have been tested at this newer lower cutoff level.  Why the change? And What was the problem with the old cutoff level? 

Brian Hendrickson, author of the news article on NCAA.org reports: "The previous threshold of 15 nanograms per milliliter was set when the NCAA established its testing program in 1986 and followed the standards for workplace testing. Tests at that time could not distinguish second-hand consumption at a more sensitive level. After its research, the CSMAS concluded that a five nanogram per milliliter sample was definitively indicative of direct use." (continue reading entire story here)

So with the definitive research conclusions of CSMAS we now hold our College Championship Athletes to a higher drug testing standard than we do with our Airplane Pilots, Bus Drivers, Train Conductors, Semi Truck Drivers etc...   The Department of Transportation (DOT) drug testing regulations still have Marijuana (THC) Confirmatory Testing at 15 nanograms per milliliter.  (all DOT cutoff levels can be found here)

Will the DOT follow the shining example of our Star Athletes and lower the threshold for confirmatory testing on THC?

Well if this study conducted by CSMAS provided enough concrete evidence that at 5 ng/ml of THC suggests actual use, and not secondhand exposure than, I'd say... YES. 

Or wait!  Will the government just make pot legal instead? 

I was surfing around the web just to find out what kind of information was available. Mostly looking for content that was not originating from the American Toxicology website.  I was surprised / proud to see that there was actually some discussions about us on some pro-drug usage online forums. 

My favorite post was from a upset patient complained about how he tried to use some fake pee for a drug test at our location in Feb 2012 (yes we realize that this is old news, but we just found out about it yesterday). 

The following is a quote from the customer of a fake pee product:

What's just as fascinating is the thought process and analysis that some of the other users on this thread had expressed. Chelsea, one of our laboratory technicians put it this way: "It boggles my mind every single time I look through these sites... The amount of stress and effort they go through just to pass a urine test to be a line cook or a busboy. If only they put just HALF of that effort into something positive, they'd probably be CEOs somewhere haha. Oh well, job security for us."

Further down in the thread another user commented:

I think this user's thought process is somewhat correct but I would phrase it more like this;  Because American Toxicology is a smaller laboratory we can focus on delivering the best customer service and products to their clients. We aren't a National laboratory with corporate governance. And contrary to what was said, our prices are rather competitive. We HAVE to be competitive to hang with the national lab's "Wal-Mart style pricing". The major differences are found in the quality of service that a Local company like our can offer to our clients. Furthermore, our employees are scientists who are allowed to think outside of the box. They really get a kick out of catching synthetic pee samples so bring on the Canadian variation of your fake pee!

The full text of this online discussion about American Toxicology catching fake pee can be found at: http://www.marijuana.com/threads/quick-fix-failed-american-toxicology-las-vegas.294579/

Other discussions about American Toxicology failing Synthetic urine samples can be found:

WebWire 
GrassCity

Our disclaimer:  It's unfortunate that there is a demand for these types of products. We do not agree or affiliate with the views or beliefs off the aforementioned websites. But we do find it amusing our name is being discussed in this way. The best way to pass a drug test is always going to be...

Don't use drugs!