Drug Testing: How It Works

In Oklahoma, both the state and private employers commonly use urine testing to check whether a person has used illegal drugs. Due to changes in legislation, many employers now mandate drug testing for their employees, leading to a large increase in the number of requested drug tests and likely an increase in the number of laboratories doing the testing. How exactly do these laboratories check for drugs in urine? First, a sample must be collected from the test subject, usually in a small cup. Labs then conduct an automated immunoassay test on the sample. The simplest type of immunoassay test works...