Have you ever tried to beat a drug test? OR Labs are usually able to bust people using someone else's urine.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain
stuff is Christian saga here. Let's say you are a
user of illicit drugs. You've applied for a job and
a drug tests required as a condition for employment. Even
in states where recreational marijuana is legal, employment can still
be denied to people who use it as well as
(00:24):
you know, of course harder drugs. You're thinking of borrowing
a buddy's urine maybe, or more extremely ordering clean urine
off the internet. But will that actually let you pass
the test? A lot depends on the collection in detection
methods used by the lab in question. Let's say you
successfully get the urine in the deposit cup within the
(00:47):
allotted time. Would you get away with it? Well? In
this case probably not. Reputable drug testing facilities followed Department
of Transportation guidelines which require collectors to establish a chain
of custody, which involves taking an immediate temperature reading of
the specimen. So while exterior proximity to your body might
(01:09):
keep the urine on the warm side, it's not likely
that it would have fallen anywhere near the required temperature range.
The DOT also requires that nothing should be taken inside
the collection area. No purses, backpacks, or outerwear pockets must
also be emptied. Sometimes workers also conduct a visual examination,
(01:31):
checking specifically the top of the belt line and sock areas,
because those are the most commonplaces people store fake and
borrowed urine. Apparently, but there's no limit to what people
will do to beat a drug test. Some will buy
powdered urine on the internet to mix with water. Most
facilities do tests in rest rooms without water access to
(01:54):
worth this in addition to not allowing people to take
any water inside, so they also try to add water
from the toilet tank. The end result is a bluish
green sample because d O T guidelines require that there's
blue tank water coloring in these toilet tanks for exactly
this purpose. Now, others may buy a product that claims
(02:16):
to cleanse your urine, but all it really does is diluted,
or they'll get some underwear that has a space to
hold the fake urine. It's not surprising, then, that some
facilities conduct observed testing, where a worker is present to
actually witness the deposit, either from the very beginning or
after a deceptive attempt has been made. Of course, if
(02:39):
the lab doesn't observe strict standards, it may still be
possible to game the system. Today's episode was written by
Aliya Hoyt, produced by Tristan McNeil and For more on
this and other topics, please visit us at how stuff
(03:00):
dot com
BrainStuff News
Host
Lauren Vogelbaum
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.