Home remedies to pass a drug test sound good, but how well do they really work…? Well, it all depends on the remedy you’re considering. Some are definitely effective to one degree or another, but some are only urban legends gone horribly, horribly wrong. Here’s some information to help you sift through all the myths about home remedies to pass a drug test.

Any discussion about how to pass a drug test should start with the basics, which is that THC metabolites are stored in your body’s fat cells. Over time your body just cycles them out, and they get flushed out in your urine. Every time you smoke you’re putting more metabolites into your fat cells, but at the same time they’re always leaving your body when you pee. Remember this, because these basic facts help to explain how some of the most persistent myths about home remedies to pass a drug test got started in the first place.

Home Remedies to Pass a Drug Test That Actually Work (More or Less)

1. Water

No doubt you’ve heard about dilution for passing a drug test. Well, it’s true that it will help you pass, but not the way you might think. The information that gets passed around about it is that you have to start drinking as much water as you can every day for a week (or a month, etc.) before your test. WRONG. What you have to do is drink as much water as you can in the few hours right before your test. By overloading your kidneys this way, it dilutes your urine to the point that there aren’t enough THC metabolites in it to register on a test. You also have to take some common supplements that make your urine appear to be undiluted, because labs are onto this method. But of all the home remedies to pass a drug test out there, this is the one that’s the most likely to actually help you pass a drug test (as long as you’re getting a urine test, that is).

2. Diuretics

Diuretics by themselves are pretty useless for passing a drug test. But when you combine them with dilution, then you’ve got a winning combo. In order to really get your urine clear of THC you’ve not only got to drink a lot of fluids, you’ve also got to pee a lot to flush them out of your system. Diuretics aren’t necessarily a requirement for how to pass a drug test using dilution, but they can help.

3. Cranberry Juice/Capsules

Cranberry is a mild diuretic, so it can be helpful for the same reason as any diuretic is. Somehow it reached a legendary status as the Big Daddy of Home Remedies to Pass a Drug Test, but believe me - there’s nothing magical about it. If all you do is take cranberry capsules or drink cranberry juice, it just ain’t gonna be enough to help you pass a urine test.

4. Exercising

To get rid of fat you exercise, right? And since THC metabolites are stored in fat cells, losing weight (real weight, not just water weight from taking diuretics) helps you cut down on the amount of metabolites your body stores at any given time. The problem with this though is that it takes a long time to lose a significant amount of weight. So unless you’ve got plenty of advance notice, exercising just won’t help you pass a urine test. If you have enough time before your test to lose a lot of weight, then you could also just stop smoking altogether and you’d have time to get clean without all that work.

Whatever you do, don’t go overboard with exercising in the week just prior to your test - losing weight at that time will work against you, since it means more metabolites are being flushed out of your system than you might want on your test day. However, if you already work out regularly then don’t stop. Exercise doesn’t cause you to lose weight (and fat cells) if you’re already pretty fit to begin with.

Home Remedies to Pass a Drug Test That Definitely DON’T Work

1. Niacin

This myth got started back in the 1970s (at least - maybe even earlier), when L. Ron Hubbard wrote a book about how to ‘purify’ the body. In case you don’t recognize the name, he was the founder of Scientology. He never had any medical training, he just read some books (or had a ‘vision’ or something) about the properties of various vitamins and the conclusion he came to was that niacin was basically a cure for everything from the common cold to cancer. The book he wrote wasn’t about how to pass a drug test, it was about how drug addicts (and others) could cleanse toxins out of their body (and it’s pretty outdated now anyway).

Of all the home remedies to pass a drug test you’ll come across, this one is probably the most dangerous. A niacin overdose can cause permanent damage to major organs, and even death. That red flush you get when you take it, and the itchy, crawly sensation you feel on your skin, isn’t doing a damn thing to prevent THC metabolites from showing up in your urine.

2. Vinegar

The only thing vinegar does is change the PH of your urine, if you add it to your urine after you pee. I’m not too sure how this one got started. At any rate, it’s one more home remedy that’s totally useless for passing a drug test, since current testing methods routinely check for this adulterant.

3. Bleach

Another adulterant that labs routinely test for. Maybe this one got started when someone had the bright idea of ‘cleaning’ their urine. I’m going to guess that many years ago (before drug testing labs got savvy) someone passed their test this way, and even though modern test methods can detect common adulterants like this today, for some reason it’s a myth that just won’t die. Whatever you do, don’t be stupid enough to actually drink it. Miniscule amounts are safe for purifying drinking water in an emergency, but it’s easy to go overboard.

4. Phenylpropanolamine

Phenylpropanolamine was the active ingredient in an over-the-counter appetite suppressant called Dexatrim. You can’t get phenylpropanolamine without a prescription any longer, since it apparently made your heart beat erratically and increased your risk of stroke. The dangers aside, it isn’t any good for passing a drug test. Vets use it today to help prevent incontinence in aging dogs. In other words, it’s used to help dogs stop peeing. The exact opposite of what you want if you’re going to flush THC from your urine. Another one of those home remedies to pass a drug test that are not only useless, but dangerous.

5. Goldenseal

Goldenseal was never effective for helping anyone pass a urine test for weed, however it was somewhat effective for helping people pass tests for other classes of drugs, like opiates. Which is why labs routinely test for it now, so don’t even go there.

6. Certo (Also Known As Sure Jell)

I saved the best for last: the ever-popular Certo Method For Passing a Drug Test. Certo and Sure Jell are brand names for pectin, which is a gelling agent made from plants and it’s used to make things like jam (so you can spread jam on your toast with a knife, instead of pouring it on like syrup). Pectin is technically a dietary fiber, and it passes through your intestines more or less intact (in other words, your body doesn’t absorb it).

The legend goes like this: Certo coats your stomach, which is somehow supposed to prevent THC metabolites from getting into your urine. This theory falls apart when you realize that metabolites are cycled out of your body through your kidneys, when you pee. Last I checked, your stomach isn’t in any way connected to your kidneys, so as far as home remedies to pass a drug test go, I give this one the award for being the silliest. I can see why people get fooled into thinking this works, though. If you read on a forum where someone is giving instructions on how to pass a urine test this way, they pretty much always include drinking lots of water along with it. So if you’re lucky enough to be tested in a lab that doesn’t perform authenticity tests for dilution, and you actually pass, it’s understandable that you’d want to share the good news with every pot smoker you know. Problem is, most labs do check for dilution, so more people fail using this method than are actually helped by it.

So there ya have it. Home Remedies To Pass a Drug Test 101. You should be in good shape now to pass a pop quiz on how to pass a drug test. :-)

Worried about passing a urine test? Find the answer here.