Why do we test for drugs?
Believe it or not, regular drug testing is a reality for many people for a multitude of reasons. For instance, a drug test may be requested by law enforcement to test for physical impairment, such as for suspicion of DWI; or it could be court-ordered as part of a drug rehabilitation program.
Also, a potential employer may request that a prospective employee take a drug test so they can determine if they are a suitable candidate for the job; particularly if the employer is intent on maintaining a drug-free workplace. Some jobs require tasks such as driving and operating mechanical equipment. These are jobs where intoxication on the job could easily lead to accidents- or even death- and prove to be a potential liability to the employer.
Typically, these drug tests are looking for marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, and possibly other drugs, depending on the situation at hand.
Urine, saliva, hair, and even sweat can be used to test for drug use, but urine testing- urinalysis- is by far the most common. Urinalysis is the standard test used by government agencies and is widely used by employers as well.
Testing for marijuana
Marijuana, also known as cannabis sativa, is a psychoactive drug whose recreational use has become legalized in 18 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Guam. This is despite the fact that the government still recognizes it as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that it doesn’t have a perceived medical benefit and has a high likelihood of abuse. It remains one of the most tested drugs, and is the most widely used federally illegal drug in the United States.
Where there are tests, there comes the desire to evade tests. What makes evading drug tests so tricky is the fact that most drugs stay in one’s system for a relatively long period of time. Take marijuana, for example. Ingesting marijuana today means that a urine test will be able to detect that marijuana in your system for the next 10 days if you’re using it casually. If you use it on a regular basis, it can be in your system for two to four weeks, depending on how heavily you used it and your own body chemistry.
Drug tests for marijuana look for delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in the bloodstream, along with other marijuana-related metabolites, such as tetrahydrocannabinol carboxylic acid, or THC COOH. THC COOH is lipid soluble, meaning it can dissolve easily in the body’s fatty tissues, and it gets stored in those fatty tissues for a relatively long time. A positive test result means there were more than 50 nanograms per milliliter of THC.
Who knew? Jello and water can help you pass a drug test.
One method of evading a positive result on a urine drug test is by using jello and water to alter results; aka “the jello trick”.
The word on the street is that the gelatin in jello plus water can decrease the chances of a positive result of a urinalysis for somebody who has smoked marijuana recently by lowering the amount of THC in ng/ml in the urine.
The product we know as “jello” is primarily made of sugar and gelatin, and is something that most of us are more familiar with as a dessert. Gelatin is a derivative of collagen, a protein that forms the connective tissue that is found in animals, including humans. Rest assured, however, that the gelatin found in jello is taken from the connective tissue of animals, not humans. Gelatin gives jello its distinctive semi-solid appearance and jiggle.
The gelatin in the jello supposedly binds to toxins such as THC and THC COOH and helps them be excreted through bowel movements. Expelling these by bowel movement would mean there would less of the THC excreted by urine, thus preventing high levels of the toxin on a drug test using urinalysis.
The Method: How do we do it?
The jello and water method goes something like this:
A few days before the test, make sure that you are, first of all, not smoking or ingesting drugs or any other toxic substances. Exercise moderately and drink water and/or sports drinks regularly to flush out the toxins built up in your system.
The night before your drug test, take a packet of jello and dissolve it in 32 ounces of water, and drink it before you go to bed. Do not drink it quickly so as to avoid getting sick.
The morning of your drug test, dissolve another packet of jello in water, and finish drinking it three hours before your drug test.
Drink a sports drink an hour or two before your test to make sure your electrolytes are replenished.
Also, about an hour before your test, take a capsule of creatine and a multivitamin that contains vitamin B complex. This is to ensure that your urine maintains a yellow color and doesn’t become suspiciously diluted. In some cases, if the urine being tested is abnormally diluted or tampered with, a follow-up test can be ordered to ensure the accuracy of the results. A follow-up test is not something that you want, is it?
The science behind the method.
Is there any validity to this jello and water method of passing a drug test?
As with anything that you read online, you should take this and other health “tricks” with a grain of salt. Run it by your doctor to make sure the process is safe.
That being said, gelatin is known to not only be safe- and tasty- to ingest, but it also has a load of health benefits. One such related benefit is that it’s great for protecting our intestines from leaky gut syndrome, which is when bacteria and toxins are able to leak from the intestines into the bloodstream and lead to an array of health issues.
Gelatin is also a great source of the amino acid glycine which, along with another amino acid named glutathione, has been shown to aid in the body’s detoxification processes.
It’s your call.
If it’s the eleventh hour and you’re due for a drug test after having smoked marijuana recently, the jello and water trick may be worth a shot, but as with anything, take the necessary precautions before moving forward.
