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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Positive For Marijuana In Drug Screen. Could Any Counter Medicine , Food Or Alcohol Have Created It Positive?

I took a pre-employment drug screen on October 28. It took about 15 minutes for the indicator to show the saliva had saturated the pad when I was told it would only take about 2 minutes. I was also told that the results would be reported to the company by the lab within 24 hours. About 3.5 days later the company said they just received something and said I needed to call the medical review officer. They questioned me about whether I was taking any prescribed medicines. When I said no, they said my test reported positive for marijuana. Is there any possibility that the time it took to get a good saliva sample or the time of took the lab to analyze the test could have created a positive result? Or could any over the counter medicines, food or alcohol created a positive results?
Thu, 7 Nov 2013
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Addiction Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hi,

It is unlikely that the time taken to collect the sample or the delay in the processing of the result could have caused a false positive result for marijuana. Some marijuana containing foods like hemp tea can cause a positive result. Alcohol cannot cause a false positive test for marijuana. Among medicines, some proton pump inhibitors like pantoprazole can cause a false positive urine test but are unlike to cause a false positive saliva test, which is generally believed to be quite reliable for marijuana.

Best wishes.
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Positive For Marijuana In Drug Screen. Could Any Counter Medicine , Food Or Alcohol Have Created It Positive?

Hi, It is unlikely that the time taken to collect the sample or the delay in the processing of the result could have caused a false positive result for marijuana. Some marijuana containing foods like hemp tea can cause a positive result. Alcohol cannot cause a false positive test for marijuana. Among medicines, some proton pump inhibitors like pantoprazole can cause a false positive urine test but are unlike to cause a false positive saliva test, which is generally believed to be quite reliable for marijuana. Best wishes.