Previous drug use question 2002 - 2018 [Merged]

[GrahamD]

Suspicious questions!

Yes they give you a urine test. No they don‘t take any hair samples.

The medical tests not only for drugs, but for vision, and hearing quality. You need to have relatively good eyesight and hearing to be part of the combat arms.

They also give you a physical (without checking for hernias) and take down your medical history. Unless you have always been a specimen of health, you will probably be asked to get some sort of information from your family doctor. Could be anything, like your alergies, recent sports injuries, or long term illnesses.

Back to the hair test. It shouldn‘t matter if they give you the test or not. If there is something that you have taken that you fear will show up in a hair sample, then you are required to divulge that information during the interview phase anyway. They ask you specifically what kins of drugs you have taken, and they even have a list that they bring out if you seem unsure, or slow to respond.
You could lie I suppose..... but that is actually illegal, and could land you up to 2 years in prison.

 

[donkon]

Well i chill with lots of people that do smoke pot, my girl smokes pot and i am always around her and these buddies. So i think i might second hand smoke weed lol. Although i never felt anything. So i dont smoke it but what if they check something and it looks like i do? Hmm. Please help me out. I dont smoke pot or anything else that kills you.

 

[Spartan]

advice is to stay away from the pot smoke for a few weeks before your medical... that should help clean up anything that might be lurkin in your system...

*though I don‘t know if pot would even get you in trouble with your medical... maybe someone knows...*

 

[fusilier955]

for a urine test marjuania takes about 3 months to get out of the system. for a hair i dont know, and a blood test i heard that small traces remain for good so they could pick it up for years... so be careful to what your friends do around you. remember that olympic gold medalist in snowboarding in 98 that almost lost his medal due to testing positive on drugs, aparently that was second hand marjuania smoke from a house party...

 

[GrahamD]

for a urine test marjuania takes about 3 months to get out of the system. for a hair i dont know, and a blood test i heard that small traces remain for good so they could pick it up for years... so be careful to what your friends do around you. remember that olympic gold medalist in snowboarding in 98 that almost lost his medal due to testing positive on drugs, aparently that was second hand marjuania smoke from a house party...

It‘s actually only 28 days that marijuana shows up in a urine sample for a casual smoker, and that is on the extreme side of caution. For chronic smokers it can take longer, but I doubt there‘s any chronic marijuana smokers who would even bother to try to get into the military, since they probably spend a lot of time avoiding any type of physical labour.
Obviously its a good idea to stay away from the second hand smoke regardless, but as long as maybe 10 days has gone by, I really wouldn‘t worry about it. I get urine samples done at least once every month as part of medical research that I participate in where I need to avoid drugs and alcohol, and I‘ve gone in the day after concerts where the air was filled with marijuana, and even in an instance where I felt buzzed after too many people were smoking it directly in my vacinity. I‘ve never had any traces show up.

If you‘re really, really worried about it, then drink a bunch of cranberry juice, or coffee (but not coffee because they are taking your blood pressure too), because the electrolytes in those are effective at masking a variety of substances, including THC.

As for Ross (olympic gold medalist snowboarder), the house party was what he had to say. It‘s the only conceivable way he could justify having marijuana in his system, without having intentionaly put it there on his own.
I don‘t think anyone who has ever snowboarded in B.C. anywhere, belived that story for even 1 second.
The only two ways he could have been caught for THC, are:

A.) He was innocent and accidentaly inhaled massive amounts of marijuana at a house party, prior to leaving for Japan. It‘s not like its odorless and undetectable and you don‘t know until its too late, if you have enough THC in your system to show up at a drug test from second hand smoke, then you were perfectly aware that there was a lot of pot smoking going on nearby. For an olympic athlete only days away from competition (and drug testing), you would have to be really really stupid to just stand around in a cloud of illegal drug smoke. It‘s not the likely scenario in my opinion.

B.) Ross is just like nearly every other snowboarder who resides full time in Whistler, and smokes loads of pot every single day. He quits smoking pot when he qulifies for the olympics, but its not soon enough, and he still has trace amounts in his system.
The thing about Ross is that he‘s not someone who grew up training to be an olympic athlete, who took it all so seriously that he abstained from any kind of drugs. He‘s just a snowboarder like any other local ay Whistler, and smoking a lot of marijuana is a huge part of that lifestyle.

Do I think he was the fastest snowboarder in Japan that day? Yes

Did the trace amounts of marijuana or possibly large amounts during his training help him to be the fastest snowboarder that day? I seriously doubt it.

Should he have been given the gold medal after the house party story? No, he had a banned substance in his blood. Case closed.

 

[donkon]

They do a blood test once you go to BMQ, what about that test??

 

[fusilier955]

how long does THC stay in the blood stream for? is it as long as ive been told?

 

[Bert]

Stuff found on the interent.

Second hand inhalation will not cause sufficent concentrations to fail a urine test. Medium to long term use will.

(THC,Marijuana) 20-90 days

CANNABIS:

A common misuse of cannabis metabolite (THC-COOH) analysis is in the interpretation of changing concentrations of that metabolite. After long term use of marijuana, the body fat contains a large amount of THC. It then slowly leaches out of the fat, into the blood, then into the liver, where it is converted to THC-COOH. The THC-COOH is then excreted into the urine. This results in decreasing THC-COOH concentrations in the urine. In a major study by the US Navy, it was found that it can take two months after the last marijuana use for the urine to become "negative" for THC-COOH. During the last two weeks or so, it is quite reasonable to expect that the urine will alternate between "positive" and negative." That is, that the concentration will be slightly above, then slightly below the cut-off value. This is due to normal metabolic effects, such as subject state of hydration and weight loss. It also is due to the definition of "positive" and "negative." If a urine sample is found to contain even one ng/mL less than the cutoff level, it is termed to be "negative." If it is one ng/mL greater than the cutoff level, it is termed "positive." Note that with modern instrumentation, such as HPLC/MS/MS, it is quite possible to detect less than 1ng/mL THC-COOH. Therefore, the time after last use may be greater than that found in the Navy study, which used a much higher concentration for the cut-off level.

 

[Duotone81]

I remember during my interview back in the day (a medical problem prevented me from joining the 2nd Irish Regiment) the PO told me to stay clear of anyone or situation that would cause me any sort of legal problems that would reflect badly on the CF and myself. He was basically saying what your parents tell you all through high school and that is stay away from the drugs. It‘s a CF policy, you have the choice. Follow their rules or find employment elsewhere. If you‘re uptight that you inadvertently inhaled something that is banned from the CF, then wait a few months and during your interview don‘t forget to bring up your situation.

Good luck

 

[Bert]

Granted, the CF has a policy towards drug use and people who use drugs have a choice to make.

For the people who do not use drugs and unintentionally inhale second hand pot smoke on occasions will not fail a urine test. THC concentrations are so minimal. Reporting this is certainly discretionary but hardly worth bring up.

In my old apartment building, there was a tenant about five doors down from me on the same floor. Every other night they would light up and the smell of burnt leaves was distinct in the hallway.
Sometimes you could just smell it in the apartment. Eventually they moved on. Like heck I‘m was going to tell the Recruiter/Medical NCO I get second-hand pot smoke from some jerk down the hall. In any case, the urine test never stopped my application process.

Incidently there is an amusing story of the pot-heads, opening their door, trying to assist an old lady and her groceries, and the arrival of the Ottawa Fire Department and associated EMS. For another time.

 

[fusilier955]

this sounds good...

 

[GhostRecce]

But no member of the PLF would have an worries would they...

 

[Da_man]

Its the only test i have left to do and i just want to know what it is exacly. I would like to know about the Assessment test too.

 

[Joel85]

What is it you ask?

It‘s a flawed, bureaucrated process that aims to screw people in every way possible.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Bert]

The medical part of the application process to be determine if you are medically fit to join the CF.

They sample your urine, ask you about your medical history, check your body for mechanical
problems (leg, foot, arm, etc), check your breathing, heart rate, and eye sight. Its a minimum verification to discover if you‘re medically fit enough to perform rigorous actions, work under stress, and quantify your medical characteristics with your chosen MOCs.

If they discover issues or problems, like you need glasses, have high blood pressure, or something that requires further clarification, you may be asked to go to a civilian doctor to be checked and have forms filled out. The forms may request a medical opinion from a civy doctor that you are or are not medicially fit given the issue. The form is returned to the CFRC to complete the medical process.

For me, the process was routine except I had to get my eyes checked by a civy doctor as I wear glasses. A form had to be filled out by the eye doctor and sent to the CFRC. Usually the civy doctors charge a fee for signing forms.

After all the information is provided to and gathered at the CFRC, the medical info is sent off to CFB Borden (or somewhere) for enterance and MOC assessment.

If successful or not, they‘ll contact you with the results. It may take a a good month for the assessment to complete.

 

[cheechue]

You forgot to mention that there is a hearing test. Also for the vision test you will also be tested for colour blindness

 

[Bert]

Yes I did. My apologises. Late night posting can be hazardous to content.

For the hearing test, the best way to give them accurate results when you enter the sound testing booth is to clear your mind and close your eyes.
Since your vision is reduced, you‘ll focus the mind better and detect lower volume tones at various audio frequencies.

 

[koalorka]

The medical assesment was the easiest part of the application process, they want to know if you are "mechanically" reliable, ask you for any injuries, allergies, surgery etc. If you‘ve had any broken bone, tell them too.

 

[jutes85]

Yeah, if you tell them that you had a broken bone they will send you to do tests apon tests.

 

[yot]

I did the med test today... ya, all most what u guys said. But he didn‘t check my heart rate, or any brething problem, he just asked a list of question, like do I have any broken bone or surgery beofre...and medical history. He also took my height and weight. And tested my eye, hearing... and urine.