This is part two of my interview with John, who worked as a supervisor at a drug testing lab. You can read part one at Tips in Passing a Drug Test – Part I.

JOHN: Yes, the color of the urine specimen (or rather, the lack of it) is the first most obvious indication of a dilution attempt. And even though we’re discussing dilution here, I should probably add that even before that, the temperature of the specimen is recorded to rule out the possibility of substitution. But assuming that the specimen passes the temperature and color test, and that it tests negative for THC metabolites, then additional tests are run to measure its specific gravity (sometimes referred to as relative density). To put it simply, the density of normal, undiluted urine falls within a certain range. Diluted urine will have very little density to it. So if the measured density of the urine specimen is below the normal range reference, a lab will flag it as diluted urine.

As for the specific elements that are measured in a urine drug test, there is only one: creatinine. Not all labs measure this, but the lab that I worked for did and I would say that most do. And as I know you are aware, creatinine levels that are below the normal range are yet one more indication of a diluted urine sample, regardless of whether or not it passes all of the other phases of the test.

DEE: So besides the obvious stuff, are there any specific tips in passing a drug test that you can recommend to people?

JOHN: Well, I think that what you recommend in your book about diluting at home more than adequately addresses all the points I’ve already mentioned, but there are a couple of things that I’d like to elaborate on if I may. One of the most important tips in passing a drug test that you mention yourself is the use of a B-complex vitamin supplement to put some color back into one’s urine after diluting. But the specific B-vitamin that provides the yellow color is B-2, so that’s all a person really needs to buy. And I would actually recommend that people take a higher dose than you recommend, like perhaps 5X the recommended daily dose on the label, or about 50-100mg. I realize that you’re probably trying to be conservative when you tell people to take double the daily recommended dose, but for just one day it’s really quite safe to take the higher amount. And a higher dose will turn urine yellow much quicker, and will also help ensure that it’s still providing color if someone has a long wait at the lab.

The second point I’d like to mention is the use of aspirin. I was impressed that you didn’t claim that this was effective for passing a drug test, but I do think that in the next edition of your book it would be a good idea to leave out any mention of it at all. There is nothing in aspirin that would have any effect in passing a urine test, and its use can be quite dangerous to some individuals. Aspirin is a much more serious drug than many people realize, particularly when it’s taken on an empty stomach. It causes small bleeding in the lining of the stomach wall, which can cause serious complications. So, since it isn’t helpful for passing a drug test anyway, it should be avoided unless it’s clearly indicated for an inflammatory condition.

DEE: Point taken. I do caution people about using aspirin, but if you say it’s not even helpful then I definitely will remove that the next time I revise my e-book. Well, I think we can wrap up and I won’t take up any more of your time, unless there’s something you’d like to add.

JOHN: I think that’s about it. Except that I would just really like people to know that it’s possible to pass urine test if they dilute properly, and that they shouldn’t necessarily see a drug test as a death sentence to their career. You’re providing a great service to people, Dee. Good luck with getting your message out.

DEE: Thanks for the encouragement and pat on the back – it means a lot to me coming from you. And good luck to you too in your new job! Thank you VERY much for taking the time to do this interview with me, John.

JOHN: It’s been a pleasure.

Anyway, someone who bought my e-book recently is – get this – a lab supervisor who actually used to oversee drug testing. He’s a smoker who had to take a drug test himself for a job offer at another lab. Talk about ironic. So I thought to myself, who better to ask for tips in passing a drug test from?? He was open to the idea of letting me interview him via chat, so that I could post it on my blog. It turned out to be pretty long, so I decided to post it in two parts. You can read the rest of this interview at Tips in Passing a Drug Test – Part II.

JOHN: Well you get right to the point don’t you, lol. That’s a fair question and I knew you would probably ask me something like that. It’s a real sore spot for me, because of course I thought about that, on almost a daily basis in fact. I wasn’t directly involved with administering drug tests but I was in charge of the procedure, you’re right. But the bulk of the lab work we did was medical analysis for hospitals and clinics and the drug testing came later after I’d worked there for almost 2 years. Just on principle I would have liked to have quit immediately, but I had a family to consider so it was complicated. I continued working there for another 18 months or so, and it’s a huge relief to me now to finally be working at another lab that doesn’t perform drug testing. So, when you asked me to share some tips in passing a drug test for your readers, I guess I saw it as an opportunity to kind of balance my karma a little.

DEE: Thanks for your honest answer, John, and I’m really glad for your sake that you don’t work there anymore! But that brings me to my next obvious question – as a lab supervisor, I would’ve thought you’d know everything there is to know about this subject. So when you needed to pass a urine drug test for your position at the lab where you’re working now, why did you need to get my e-book on how to pass a drug test? I’ve been curious to know the answer to this ever since you told me about what you do for a living.

JOHN: Good question. Well it’s like this: part of my former job as lab supervisor was to keep up on the literature about current drug testing procedures, and to monitor information about known methods that people use in their attempts to get a false negative on a urine test. So yes, I knew I had all the information I needed to pass a drug test. But to be perfectly honest, I was also just as nervous as anyone else is who is facing a drug test. If for some reason I didn’t pass, it would have seriously damaged my reputation in the industry. So I suppose just as a way to reassure myself that I hadn’t missed anything I was looking on the Internet when I came across your e-book. It intrigued me because it was obvious to me that you had a grasp of the mechanics of hiding dilution, and I suppose I was curious about what you recommended to people.

DEE: So does that mean you agree with the entire premise of my e-book, that dilution is the best way to pass a urine drug test for marijuana?

JOHN: Oh yes, most definitely. It isn’t just the best way, it’s actually the only way. You have pretty good researching skills, and you got that part exactly right.

DEE: Thank you! But there are a lot of tips in passing a drug test out there that don’t even mention dilution, so could you explain, in layman’s terms, why it works so well for passing a urine test?

JOHN: Sure. Well, as I believe you state in your book THC is fat soluble and its metabolites are mainly excreted through the urine. THC metabolites will eventually be eliminated from fat cells over time of course, but since it isn’t possible to eliminate the fat cells themselves quickly, what a person can do is to dilute their urine output so that it has a much lower concentration of these metabolites.

Think of it like this: The human body can only contain so much water, and no more. If a person continues to drink fluids past the point at which the body is well hydrated, then the kidneys attempt to regulate the hydration level. To do that, they begin to pull water from other areas of the body in order to eliminate fluids via urination, to balance the excess fluids being taken in. Without this regulation process, along with frequent urination, water poisoning would occur (which can be fatal). So when a person drinks a large volume of water to pass a drug test, they are not actually increasing the efficiency of the kidneys. What they’re doing is simply increasing the amount of water in their urine, and thus decreasing the concentration of THC metabolites present.

I think it’s important for someone to understand this distinction. With dilution, THC metabolites aren’t actually eliminated from the body (only time or extremely rapid weight loss could accomplish that) but they are simply less concentrated in the urine. But as you know, the dilution process lowers the concentration of every other element that’s normally present in urine, which is how a test lab can identify when someone is actively trying to pass a drug test.