Even if you really are the sort of person who swears you only smoked weedonce, a pre-employment drug test can be a nerve-racking experience. Though pausing one's marijuana habits long enough to beat a urine sample seems plausible, the general consensus surrounding a hair test is that the proof of your weed consumption sticks around there for much longer. Thankfully, a recent study is making damn sure everyone knows that hair tests might not be as accurate as previously assumed.
"In light of the serious consequences of positive test results, the mechanisms of drug incorporation into hair urgently need scientific evaluation," study co-authors Nadine Roth, Volker Auwarter, Bjoern Moosmannsaid in a statement to Nature announcing their findings. "Here we show that neither THC nor THCA-A are incorporated into human hair in relevant amounts after systemic uptake. THC-COOH, which is considered an incontestable proof of THC uptake according to the current scientific doctrine, was found in hair, but was also present in older hair segments, which already grew before the oral THC intake and in sebum/sweat samples."
The study reportedly shows that all three cannabinoids "can be present in the hair of non-consuming individuals," due to potential exposure through hand contact, sweat, or secondhand weed smoke. Thankfully, the scientists of Reddit quickly offered their own commentary on these findings before descending into an argument about the validity of the sample size:
Of course, the more important question here is: why is anyone getting tested for marijuana at all?
