Do you need to know everything about military drug testing? Well, this guide has you covered completely.
Although I’m not in the army myself, I’ve been dealing with drug testing privately and professionally for a decade. I also have a friend in the army, and another in the Marine Corps, and have talked to both of these about their experiences before writing this guide.
So this is going to cover everything you need to know about drug testing in the military. When you could face one, the type of testing done, what drugs to the military test for, and military drug test cut-off levels (are they important?).
The Basics Of Drug Testing Policies In The US Military (Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy)
When people talk about United States military drug tests, they usually think about the army. But remember that there are several branches: Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps (the army within the Navy).
All of these are covered by the American federal policy on drug use and testing in the United States military.
To put you straight straightaway, the military has a zero tolerance on drug use. That’s everything from marijuana through to modern synthetic drugs.
In the army specifically, each commander must test 10% of their unit per month. Some commanders even test 100% of their people every month, but this tends to be for more specialist units. Wherever you are, you will be tested.
Reasons You Could Face Military Drug Testing
Unlike in the civilian world, there are very specific situations under which you could face a drug test.
- During enlistment or commissioning
Every new recruit or promotion must undergo drug testing before they can begin serving their country. This is pretty straightforward, if you test positive, you don’t get in, or you get kicked out. This is no different to the civilian world, where you would not get a job if you fail a drug test after interview.
- Random testing
- Random testing is done religiously in the army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. 10% of the unit should be done each month as a minimum. In fact, many units exceed this, especially specialist units, or units about to head off overseas, and for other situations.
- Suspicion/probable cause testing
- It’s a legal minefield in the civilian world to test people with suspicion because it can be seen as discrimination. That’s not the case in the military though. Commanders have the authority to administer as many drug tests as they want, when they want. This suspicion can be anything they want, and doesn’t have to be justified anywhere.
- Pre-deployment or post-deployment and post-leave testing
- At any of these key times drug testing is usually universal, apart from maybe post deployment depending on the location you were deployed to. So in any active service environment, going into it, going out of it, or coming back from leave in the civilian world, you can expect a drug test.
- Post accident/incident testing
- If there is an accident, or any unusual incident, then drug testing could form part of the investigation. This could be anything from an equipment failure, through to mismanagement, a physical accident, or even a tactical error in training.
Army Drug Test Process
Look, I think it’s becoming obvious already that just as you are almost in a different society, with different rules and even its own courts and prisons, so with drug testing, you are completely at the whim of the army and particularly your unit commander.
If that person wants you tested every single day of your career, then there appears to be nothing to stop it, although I’m sure there must be a point at which they would have to justify that to their superiors.
In terms of the actual process of drug testing, it’s often done by the unit itself (trained personnel), or even sometimes through civilian drug testing companies.
Whoever tests the sample, they have to have an accredited lab status with the military and adhere to that with a rigorous paper trail.
Put all that together, and this is the snapshot you need about the process of drug testing in the military:
- Always a supervised drug test
- Highly structured chain of custody
- Only accredited labs involved
- Samples are always lab analyzed
- Zero tolerance policy for drug test failure
It’s mostly urine drug testing that is done. This offers the best balance between getting results of several days history versus cost.
The drug tests are always monitored. There are strict conditions about how they are conducted. Privacy and personal respect are maintained, but you will be observed throughout the process to prevent adulteration or substitution.
After collection, the sample is sealed and labelled with paperwork. It is collected securely and taken to the place will be tested, and then returned using similar inaccessible methods.
In addition to all that, the accredited labs always conduct an enzyme immunoassay is the first step, and then if it shows positive for drugs, they will follow-up immediately with gas chromatography – mass spectrometry, or even liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry analysis.
Military 5 & 10 Panel Drug Tests
The military 5 panel drug test is the industry standard one that is used in civilian settings as well. It looks for the following drugs:
- Marijuana
- Amphetamines/methamphetamines
- Cocaine
- PCP
- Opiates
The military doesn’t swap panels in and out of standard drug tests, so you always know that those of the drugs that will be looked for on the standard military test. This is exactly the same as the Department of Transport standard 5 panel test, which can also be beaten simply by taking drugs not looked for.
The military 10 panel test has everything on the five panel test, along with the following five editions:
- Barbiturates
- Benzodiazepines
- Methadone
- Quaaludes
- Propoxyphene
As you can see, using standard drug testing the military does have the means to quickly identify drug use for most common types of substance.
Military 26 Panel Drug Test
It’s important not to scare you by telling you that the military 26 panel drug test is incredibly rarely used.
This it’s mostly used as the ultimate deterrent, and only employed in situations where they really want to scare people for truly get to the bottom of what’s going on.
The 26 panel military test looks for an almost comprehensive range of standard drugs and medications, but also an extended set of panels that look for synthetic and rarer drugs as well.
Overall, the military panel looks for the following 26 substances:
Amphetamines/methamphetamines, cocaine, cannabis, MDMA, opiates, MDA, hydrocodone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, benzodiazepines, methadone, barbiturates, propoxyphene, synthetic cannabinoids, novel cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, tramadol, fentanyl, ketamine, LSD, steroids, PCP, buprenorphine, carisoprodol, meprobamate, and Quaaludes (methaqualone).
Military Drug Test Cut-Off Levels
I don’t think you should worry about cut-off levels on any drug test. They are always slightly different, and depend on the test and the lab/company doing the test.Also, if you are borderline, and pass a home drug test, these usually have worse cut-off levels, so you could still fail a lab test.
Forget the cut-off levels and focus more on the number of days it’s been since you’ve taken drugs, your dosage, and the likely time it would take you to get clean.
Consequences Of Failing A Military Drug Test
If you fail a military drug test then you are going to face immediate and swift consequences. There is a standard administrative actions process that will ultimately lead to discharge in 90% of circumstances.
Look, if you’re a specialist, and they have invested a lot of money in your training, or you are in a key position difficult to replace, especially non-leadership as examples have to be made for leaders taking drugs, then you might get away with being put on a rehabilitation and monitoring program. But that’s rare.
Overwhelmingly, if you fail a drug test then you will be kicked out of the military with a dishonorable discharge.
Worse, if you are dealing or there are some other more significant circumstances then you could face a court-martial followed by imprisonment within the military prison system.
How To Beat Army/Air Force/Marine Corps Drug Tests
You can’t use synthetic urine to bet a military drug test because they are all observed. They may only be indirectly observed, but the process is far more rigorous than in civilian drug testing.
Therefore, you have the following strategies to beat a urine military drug test:
- Fully detox and accelerate that process by up to 60% by using Toxin Rid detox pills. So if it would take you a week to get clean, you could be clean in as little as three days.
- Mask the toxins using Rthe escue Cleanse detox drink. This works better if you have taken small amounts of drugs, or only one or two doses in the past week. It will mask toxins in your body for up to 5 hours.
- The best combo strategy is to get clean for as many days as you can using Toxin Rid, which will make it easier for Rescue Cleanse to mask any remaining drug metabolites in your body for long enough to submit a clean sample.
