It’s hard to believe now, but there was once a time in America’s history when even children could buy an ordinary soft drink and consume narcotics within it, and this was 100% legal! It was only in 1929 that Coca-Colar finally removed cocaine as one of the active ingredients in its carbonated beverage!
Today, of course, no American—let alone a minor—can go into a store and casually purchase a food or beverage with cocaine in it. The drug is now illegal, though that hasn’t stopped it from being familiar to many Americans, and testing for its presence now happens in many different situations.
Surprising Facts About Cocaine Drug Testing - Transcript
Did you know that cocaine was once part of the recipe for Coca Cola? That ended in 1929? Welcome to our video blog series. I’m Joe Reilly, president of national drug screening. I’m going to talk today about cocaine and a cocaine drug test. Probably many of you have seen cocaine, if not live and in person in the movies or on TV. You may have watched some of the movies or TV series about Pablo Escobar, one of the main ringleaders of some of the Colombian cartels. You may also have seen the movie Blow or the movie Scarface.
Cocaine is a white powdery substance, or a rock like substance. The powdery substance is snorted with $1 bill. The rock like substance is often smoked. In a pipe. Cocaine has significant effects, both long term and short term. The short term effects of cocaine can include death, from respiratory failure, increased heart rate, muscle spasms, and convulsions, intense drug craving dilated pupils and disturbed sleep patterns. The cocaine high is short lived. It is an intense high that is immediately followed by an opposite intense depression, edginess, and a craving for more of the drug. The long term effects of cocaine are that a person can become psychotic and begin to experience hallucinations. So severe depression can set in high blood pressure leading to heart attacks, strokes and deaths increased frequency of risky behavior, and finally disorientation, apathy, and confused exhaustion.
A drug test for cocaine is part of a standard drug testing panel. Typically, a standard drug testing panel is a five panel drug test, or a 10 panel drug test. So most standard drug tests in the United States will include a drug test for cocaine, the five panel test for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, pen Cyclopean, or PCP and opiates. When we get to the 10 panel, it’s the same five drugs, as well as barbiturates, benzodiazepines, propoxyphene, methaqualone, and methadone.
Ordering a drug test is very easy. You can go to national drug screenings website, and you can order a drug test today. You can also call our toll free number and you can order a drug test today. For more information about different drug tests, and anything drug testing, visit the blog, the NDS blog on the national drug screening website, www dot national drug screening.com.
Cocaine It’s In The Media
Along with marijuana, cocaine is probably the most familiar drug to Americans due to its frequent portrayal in the media. Millions of Americans have, over the decades, seen cocaine, a white, powdery substance, divided into lines and inhaled through the nose, or kept in a rock-like form, and smoked in a pipe.
Cocaine is also well known due to its popularity during the 1980s. Compared to other drugs, cocaine is not the cheapest. During the boom period of the 80s however, when the economy was good, and many young people had a significant disposable income, it became a popular drug amongst the affluent Baby Boomer generation as executives, celebrities, and others used it.
The Effects
Of course, the reason people use cocaine, as with any other drug, is because a “high” is achieved. In the case of cocaine, this is a burst of energy, as well as a strong sense of well-being, as if one is indestructible and can do anything. However, there are also significant short term effects. Death, due to respiratory failure, is a possible side effect. More worrying, however, is the “crash,” that comes after the high, the exact opposite of the high, that leaves a person feeling defeated, depressed, and craving more.
Standard Testing
Today, cocaine is one of the panels in the standard 5-panel drug test. A panel, in this case, can be thought of as a type of drug. Standard 5-panel drug tests look for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, and opiates. So while there is no single test for only cocaine usage, it is very easy to spot the metabolites it leaves behind, in addition to four other drugs being tested.
It’s important to remember that today’s drug tests can track usage of drugs for longer periods, 90 days or more after usage. It’s getting harder and harder to cheat these tests.
