Surely you have also trembled when at a police checkpoint you had to blow into the drug device. That time that passes between blowing and getting the result feels like an eternity even if you have not consumed alcohol or any substance (you already know that it is strictly forbidden to get behind the wheel if you have taken anything “weird”).
Well, now it turns out there are foods that are normally consumed that can make a drug test come out positive without you having taken any narcotic. And now imagine explaining to the officer that you have not consumed anything, the possibility of the car being immobilized, problems at work…
But… is it real?
Institutions such as the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the U.S. have studies and documented cases where certain ingredients sneak into the results and get confused with illegal substances. The explanation lies in chemical reactions, natural traces or small fermentations that fool the analyzers.
And there are six ingredients (or non narcotic substances, whichever you prefer to call them) that can get you into trouble, so we are going to explain them all to you.
The culprit is quinine
If you drink alcohol, you already know what is going to happen in a test. But even tonic water, even if you drink it on its own, can mess things up because it contains quinine, a substance that also appears in analyses where derivatives of cocaine or heroin are being looked for.
Rapid tests can confuse it and give a false positive! And quinine also stays in the body for a while.
Cough syrups and ibuprofen
Many have also suffered the reaction of dextromethorphan, an ingredient found in cough syrups that can be confused with a hard drug called PCP or phencyclidine.
And not only that, because certain anti inflammatories such as ibuprofen have given false positives in THC tests, the psychoactive component of cannabis, without having anything to do with it!
Can you imagine a police officer believing that instead of a joint you took an ibuprofen because your head hurt? It would sound hardly believable.
Hemp seeds
Oils, bars, fitness products… many contain hemp, and although it is legal and does not “get you high”, it can contain traces of THC even if they are minimal. And that minimum is stored in body fat and can remain in the body for weeks.
There are experts who say that to be totally “clean” in a test, some people would have to stop consuming these products for about 45 days!!
Accidental doping
Uh, this is perhaps the point not many of you knew, and it is that some dietary supplements (especially those related to sports performance) can contain cross contamination with ephedrine or androstenedione and both are considered doping substances, so they could make you test positive in a drug test.
Durian
Durian is a very famous fruit for its intense smell, but what many do not know is that as it ripens, its compounds ferment and release alcohol.
And although they are not very large amounts, it has happened in China that a driver tested positive after eating durian, although the blood test later showed that he had not ingested any alcohol!
Yeast
Yes, eating many sweets and products with yeast also generates alcohol, that alcohol does not affect your abilities but it can stay in the mouth for a few minutes, and if you are eating while driving… you can test positive.
So now you know that a positive drug test does not always mean you have consumed something illegal, sometimes it is just pure food chemistry! And you innocently without knowing it! That said, now:
- avoid eating certain things right before a test
- explain better an odd result if you need explanations
- and above all, do not panic if something goes wrong.