The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Of Drug Testing

Many people never consider drug testing vehicles that have been stolen and recovered or to have their rental properties tested after particularly messy tenants have vacated.

Yet not doing this is leaving them wide open for potentially life threatening exposure to drugs like fentanyl. Life-Threatening!!!

Now that I have your attention here’s a bit more background to take the fear element up even higher, but don’t worry I’ll clarify a bit more later.

If you’ve handled any cash in the last month, you’ve been exposed to fentanyl. That’s the scary part, but the more important part is you’ve only been exposed to trace amounts.

In recent tests at a trade show in Edmonton an individual using an IOSCAN 600 trace detector found traces of fentanyl on nearly 90% of all the money that was tested.

Why so high you ask (no pun intended) because your local drug dealers don’t take MasterCard or Visa. Drug dealing is a cash business and cash is the perfect repository for residue.

It’s fine fibres trap oils from our skin which in the case of drug users often has traces of the drugs they are steadily using within that oil.

Think about that, every time you’re handling cash you are most likely exposing yourself to fentanyl the drug that people die from when exposed to even minimal quantities.

That’s The Bad, Here’s Some Ugly

Now that we’ve ramped up the fear factor, let’s take it down a few notches.

As scary as exposure to trace amounts of fentanyl sounds, it’s only trace amounts. Granted it doesn’t take much to cause problems to your system and to your health, but the trace amounts found on the bills in circulation typically won’t kill you.

And that’s one of the challenges that comes with drug testing vehicles, property and even storage containers, how much is too much!

Depending on the sensitivity of the equipment, it’s entirely possible that EVERY SINGLE VEHICLE WE DRUG TEST, could come up positive.

Trace amounts are everywhere, that’s why they are traces.

While this would be great for our business, the repercussions would be huge.

First we wouldn’t be able to sleep at night as this would be taking advantage of our customers.

Just as important though you’d see insurance costs skyrocket as every vehicle would need complete hazardous detailing services by certified detailers (this is another story in itself, but general car detailers do not have the equipment, or the training, to detect and neutralize drugs found in vehicles like we do).

You’d see an entirely new industry pop up dedicated to nonstop drug testing and drug decontaminating.

Public transport would grind to a halt as buses and trains need to be removed daily for cleaning and decontamination. Police and emergency response vehicles along with first responders of all types would be taken out of circulation for vehicle decontamination and testing daily and everyone’s taxes would skyrocket to cover these added expenses.

If you start thinking about businesses that handle cash that would also have to close every other day for decontamination you can see how this can easily get out of control.

So what’s the good of all this?

The Good of Vehicle Drug Testing & Property Drug Testing

The good is trace amounts aren’t the problem and the testing equipment we use doesn’t trigger on trace amounts, but only if the amount detected exceeds 200 nanograms (ng) which is a very very very minor amount.

Our method for testing Fentanyl provides a safe detection limit and not just traces of the potentially dangerous drug, which can result in inadequate readings.

If our testing equipment does trigger, we know there’s a problem. This requires a very thorough and dedicated cleanup that involves complete removal of seats so as to access all the nooks and crannies in a vehicle and allowing us to remove and neutralize the drugs that are found.

Additionally, with vehicles our drug testing services begins with an initial inspection and detection involves not just using our testing equipment, but also doing visual inspections for additional dangerous items such as razor blades, needles or other sharp and or dangerous items such as pipes, tools and drug paraphernalia.

When we’re done, you know your vehicle is properly checked and safe.

When dealing with properties it’s typically a much easier task as we can check samples in various areas throughout a home or room and there aren’t quite as many crevices and hiding spaces to have to search and inspect through.

Having said that though, there have been certain homes filled with enough garbage and junk that they require very specific checking to ensure the property is safe.

Do not hesitate to request drug testing. Whether you have a vehicle or a property that requires drug testing and potential cleanup after drugs have been detected, you know you’re in good hands with Mayken™ Hazmat Solutions!