Pot smokers over the world dread the mandatory, random, or preplanned drug test. Usually, for passing that drug test, you will have to submit a urine sample. You maybe feel violated. After all, they are extracting privileged medical information from out of you and hanging your livelihood on that. You may feel like you wouldn’t give them a cup of your precious bodily fluids if they were dying of thirst, but, you would and you will, give them exactly 3 oz of urine, or at least, in this case, a mouth swab.
And they are gonna analyze that mouth swab and determine if you will be able to ‘put food on your family’ (‘on the table’: Bushism). You hate to be owned by these people, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Well, we got the heads up for you. Don’t go in unprepared. Know what’s up and what you have to do.
SUMMARY:
How To Pass a Mouth Swab Drug Test:
Abstinence
Mouth Swab drug tests can only detect drug residues that have been left in the mouth. If you abstain from drug use for 2 to 3 days of the test, drug residues will no longer be detectable.
Brush and Use Mouthwash
Brush your teeth, tongue, and cheeks. Now use a mouthwash, swish, and spit it out. Peroxide mouthwash gets a lot of buzzes online as being particularly effective. Listerine mouthwash has also been suggested. Do not use an ethanol-based mouthwash.
Detox Mouthwash
If you want added security, use a professional detox mouthwash like Stinger Detox Mouthwash.
How Can I Pass a Cotton Swab Drug Test?
First, you need to know what it is. A cotton swab drug test works in this way. A cotton swab drug test typically checks a person’s system for several drugs, not just marijuana. Absorbent swabs imply taking and analyzing a sample of your oral fluid. The tests hold a few different names including a mouth swab test, saliva drug test, and oral drug test, all meaning the same. Since it’s not an HIV test, they don’t take the cells from your cheeks for screening.
The concentrations of basic drugs including amphetamines, cocaine and some opioids in human oral fluid are similar or higher than those detected in plasma. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major chemical compound present from cannabis use, displays similar concentrations in oral fluid as compared to that in blood in the liquidation phase. However, significant local absorption of the drug in the oral cavity raises the concentration levels for some time after the use of the substance.
They may stick one or two swabs down under your tongue where the juicy spit stuff comes out. Funny how we haven’t had pause to examine that area since childhood. We’ve always had it, it’s always been important but never were we curious about how the spit comes up out of there until we had to do a weed test. Well, let’s go on a fantastic voyage into the human body. That area under your tongue contains the major salivary glands or parotid glands.
Salivary glands wrapped around the mandibular ramus produce a fluid, called saliva which contains fluid and enzymes to help you digest your food and keep your mouth moist. Saliva also contains drugs or drug metabolites from those substances you have consumed relatively recently, within about 48 hours. So, the first upside you have is that unlike urine tests, oral swab tests for marijuana only tests for weed you have consumed within the last 4 to 6 hours. So as long as you aren’t smoking or eating edibles on the job, you’re Gucci.
The samples taken will be checked to make sure it is saliva from a human and that it is not diluted, so we will have to watch out for that. No use trying to kiss your dog and get some saliva. These tests will typically test for marijuana use within the last 6 hours, so you’re scot-free if you aren’t just popping cannabis gummies all day. However, they also test for other drugs, with a detection window within about 48 hours, so we are still talking about recent drug use for drugs like:
You want to be sure you haven’t used any of those in the last 2 days. If you get a little heads up you should be able to avoid these substances for the required two days unless you have an opioid addiction; in which case you might have to look into experimenting with kratom to hold you over, and then go get help. How many times have you seen an opioid addiction end well? But, pass your tests first right, we all gotta eat even if we have drug problems.
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How long does THC stay in your saliva for a drug test
First off, it will take thirty minutes to an hour for THC to be detectable. Many of these tests actually test for THC-COOH, metabolized THC, and if so, you will be lucky, because you only have unmetabolized THC in your saliva mostly, so you will probably pass. This is because THC-COOH is used for urine testing for THC which has already been processed by the body. Not much of that will be in your saliva, but it will be in your urine. So, you could pass a saliva test and at the same time fail a urine test. Make sure it’s only a saliva test if you are going to use these tips to pass it.
Oral swab drug test THC detection times
one time use
moderate user
frequent user
heavy user
Urine
1-6 days
7-13 days
more than 15 days
more than 30 days
Saliva
first 24 hours
first 24 hours
first 24 hours
first 24 hours
Hair
unlikely
7-90 days
7-90 days
7-90 days
Blood
from 6 hours to 1 day
up to 7 days
up to 7 days
up to 7 days
The table with data allows you to see how long weed stays in your system and compares different types of drug testing. For saliva tests, THC may be detectable from 1-12 hours.
Medical professionals primarily extract saliva from three glands: the parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual and by other smaller glands. Oral fluid contains very low level of protein (0.3%). The later can vary from zero to several mL per minute depending on the impact of numerous factors including emotional state and hunger. For example, dry mouth syndrome is relatively common in people under drug testing, and the anxiety of the collection procedure or even lack of proper hydration of the individual may serve the reasons for it.
In Saliva, oxycodone, also called Oxycontin is detectable in the Saliva within 15 minutes and will leave the saliva within 1 to 4 days. Oxycodone is a heroin-like opioid that is implicated in causing the current opioid addiction epidemic. It was aggressively marketed for pain when it first came out, and addictive potential was either downplayed or denied. It later became apparent that it was getting lots of people addicted and was being diverted for criminal purposes at high rates.
As doctors reigned in their prescriptions and the street price of oxycontin shot up, dealers begin to bring in cheap heroin, fentanyl, and carfentanyl from Mexico. Carfentanyl is so powerful it’s used to tranquilize elephants. We can assume that heroin may have a similar half-life and detection window as oxycontin and depending on how you use it. If you use a method to pass the test, make sure it is legal in your jurisdiction. Later, we will tell you about state and federal laws on detox products.
Figure 2.
This chart tells you to have the half-life of various drugs. You may need to know this because if you fail a mouth test, you may be given a urine, blood, or hair test to cement the verdict, so you’ll want to know how long these drugs stay in your system.
Figure 3.Mouth swab drug test detection period
This chart presents the comparison of different testing methods (hair, saliva, urine) and the detection windows for each drug. As you can see from the table, marijuana can definitely be detectable after 1 hour and up to 12 hours from its use. Heroin within one hour and up to 21 hours in saliva. However, no drug can be found in saliva 3 days after use.
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When do employers use drug tests?
There are two main reasons an employer will use a mouth drug test, a good one, and a bad one. The good reason is that they have to pass some kinda inspection and they are using mouth tests and telling employees when the test will be just so they can claim they tested their employees and found nothing, without getting into their employees’ business outside of work.
Ultimately, however, the legal future of drug testing is likely to turn less on the development of new technologies than it is on widespread social attitudes. Modern judicial consensus in favor of drug testing appears to base on four widely shared perceptions: (1) drug abuse is one of the nation’s burning problems; (2) drug-taking workers, at least ones employed in certain job categories, pose a threat to themselves, their coworkers, the public, and the quality and productivity of their operations; (3) drug testing is reliable and precise, and there measures to protect it from arbitrary and discriminatory implementation; and (4) drug testing can be performed in a way that minimizes intrusion of privacy and decrease of human dignity.
One of the only ways to get caught with a test with such a short detection window is if you are doing the drugs right there at work. In which case you have a problem that could really be dragging the company down and making you more likely to attempt stealing so it may be important to weed such people out. And there are also safety reasons to test employees and finally, to test after accidents to see who might have been at fault.
What if someone drunk gets hit by a sober driver but they would certainly have moved out of the way if they were not drunk? Maybe the sober driver had just developed a not yet diagnosed seizure disorder, so he is not at fault; he never knew he was having seizures till after the accident. Wonder who gets in trouble then? Hard to say but failing a mouth swab drug test does not look good, even if you really weren’t at fault.
So, keep your drug test remedies on you, and also don’t do drugs and drive. It’s true that one study found that patients with generalized anxiety disorder drove better after a few drinks, but those persons were not you, and you certainly drive worse and we want to keep everyone safe.
Here is a list of good reasons an employer or other interest might use a drug test:
Before truck driving school or other Department of Transportation regulated employment
After a vehicle accident
Before a medical test or before giving certain medications
Ordered by psychiatrists
Pre-employment
Before a promotion/pay raise
Returning to duty after an accident (military, police)
After you shoot someone, especially if you claim self-defense (don’t shoot people, by the way, life is precious)
If companies randomly drug test, they will mention it in the employee handbook. Check your states’ laws if you have concerns about your employer’s drug testing policies. Most likely, long ago, during simpler times, you signed something saying you are okay with the drug testing policy.
The second main reason, the bad one, is that someone is trying to get you fired. They’ve found out you smoke a blunt or eat some edibles during lunch or have a prescription for medical marijuana and they are trying to get a test done, timed just right to get you kicked out of the company. Now a manager has targeted you specifically and no one else to take a drug test. Never take a drug test you are going to fail.
A failed test always looks worse than denying a test. You can’t erase a failed test. Even if you fail a test at your shrink office, you will never be treated with a medication above schedule v again, no matter how bad you need it. It might be true that you will get addicted to it, but as you get older, sometimes you have to pick up an addiction to keep living. You may get addicted to insulin or beta-blockers, you gotta have it. Same with pain meds and anti-anxiety meds.
Pros and Cons of Saliva / Mouth Swab drug tests
Pros
Easy to use
Can be used on site
Does not require privacy, easy to observe
Only covers about 2 days
Detects drugs which are used on the job
Can be used after an accident
Less expensive than other methods
Cons
Only covers up to up to 3 days
Urine tests can provide a longer window of detection
Blood tests provide a longer window of detection
Hair tests provide an even longer window of detection
Self-reported rates of drug use are 3 times higher than the positivity rates from drug tests, meaning people are absolutely beating the tests, often
How to pass an oral swab drug test
Home remedies to pass a saliva drug test
Let’s note again, if an employer is giving you an oral swab drug test, they might be totally on your side, because it’s the easiest test to pass. Just stopping using drugs for two days and if you don’t, you might still pass. Or, if they use a follow-up urine test, you might be able to put it off a few days and or go get a urine dilution detox drink like Mega Clean Detoxify.
Brush and use Mouthwash
The other home remedy you can use besides 2-3 days of abstinence is hydrogen peroxide mouth wash or Listerine mouth wash. Weed smokers claim to have passed the test after smoking weed the same day but thoroughly brushing their teeth and using mouth wash before the test. Although this is the most obvious attempt at messing with the tests for test-makers to tackle, they are really in the game of selling drug tests right, not detecting drug use. And employers probably don’t want to fire that many people if they have to do drug tests, so they want a test that is not too sensitive. Hiring new people costs money and time.
From the gate, make sure you have 3% peroxide in the little brown bottle and not some ridiculous concentration like 75%, which I doubt you’d be able to get but who knows.
Put about an ounce of mouthwash in your mouth and a little sip of water.
Swish around for about a minute.
Spit it out. The last step is the most important, cuz this stuff is not good for you if you swallow it. I think you’ll live, but peroxide is a free radical. The body uses it to kill foreign pathogens in the body because it is good at killing cells in general. 3 percent peroxide is likely harmless if swallowed but 10% and over can and has caused fatal embolisms in people. Do you know how it feels all tingly and bubbly? Well, it’s like that in your veins too and sometimes it spits out an air bubble that just gums up the works and you’re dead. So, don’t swallow this stuff. All through childhood, you have survived the temptation to swallow a bottle of peroxide, that’s why you’re here with us today, don’t mess that up under bad advice. You were right all along, don’t eat peroxide, no matter what some alternative health nut tells you.
Next: Wisdom of Social Media: Preview: “Swish with hydrogen peroxide!!!”
This Reddit conversation confirms from the wisdom of social media that the consensus seems to be to brush and use hydrogen peroxide or Listerine. One guy says to leave a little water in your mouth. My guess is that you could end up getting a ‘diluted’ result when you would otherwise have passed, so I would pass on that suggestion. The same user noted saliva tests are very unreliable, so why risk getting an ‘adulterated’ result when you would have passed had you not tried to dilute the sample.
Let’s see what they are saying on Facebook: “Hahaha. I passed…”
Well, this is at least confirmation that people who have smoked very recently routinely pass the saliva test. Other Facebook users touted Listerine and peroxide as well. They also brought up, detox products.
Detox Products
Detox products are the alternative route, the dark side. It may make you feel better to know you shelled out some dough on this stuff. We can’t say with certainty that any of these methods or products have anything over the traditional brush your teeth and swish with mouth wash. Some may be worth a try. Never wash your mouth out with harsh chemicals.
Generally, you shouldn’t put anything in your mouth that you couldn’t safely eat (today’s algorithmic heuristic rule), but we’ve been putting fluoride in our mouths so frequently that this rule we already routine break. But if you choose to buy a detox product, be sure it contains no inedible ingredients, and then, and this is important, do not eat it. These products are meant to spit out. Do not confuse them with the very similar-looking products from the same companies which are detox products for blood and urine tests, meant to be ingested.
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This is a popular product, currently showing up as out of stock. We’ve seen this recommended a handful of times. We were unable to get a list of ingredients so we will hold off on making any kind of recommendations. But we did get a list of directions. Just check to be sure all the ingredients are non-toxic, and preferably edible, even though you are going to spit them out.
Preparation
Right before the test, pour a 3rd of the bottle in your mouth, wash by swishing around for a full 3 minutes. Spit it out.
Do it 2 more times.
Pop a breath mint.
Stinger Detox Mouthwash
Stinger Detox Mouthwash is also a popular choice. The instructions say to take a small swig, flush it around in your mouth for a minute. Keep doing that till the bottle is gone. Then test without doing any more drugs or eating any food. That’s gonna set you back $34.95 for 2 ounces of fluid. That’s way more expensive than gasoline, but, it’s your livelihood on the line. You may want a magical solution. We don’t even know what’s in this stuff. The company is fairly popular and has a good name.
That’s always a good sign, that the company has passed the test of survival for a while, even with popular products. It is intelligence to be able to identify the selection pressures a product has gone through. It’s just like evolutionary scientists identifying the selection pressures that produce an animal. This company has survived while being popular, that means its products are not causing massive, obvious problems. The only other way they could survive is just with an addictive product like alcohol and cigarettes, or a product like an acetaminophen which causes quite a few cases of acute liver failure each year but has great marketing behind it.
We had to include this rather innovative attempt, spit neutralizing chewing gum. Now, this is definitely gonna make you feel better about taking the test. Would we recommend it? Hm, this is a hard one. It sounds like a very good idea…but. When a process works, you should repeat what works as closely as you can to the original attempt because if you add something because you think it sounds like it will help, you could accidentally mess up what was working (algorithmic heuristic: if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it).
So, we have heard stories of people passing with peroxide, Listerine, stinger, and mostly with just brushing and mouthwash. If you think, well adding a chewing gum could make it better, you are altering the results, fixing something that isn’t broken. What if, the gum causes you to produce more saliva and in that saliva is more of the active substances you’ve been smoking? So, we will hold off on making a recommendation on this until we get reports from social media, but it is a promising product.
Directions:
Take gum capsule out, take off the wrapping.
Bite that gum and let the fluid stay in the mouth.
Chew that gum for half a minute. Your saliva is now clean.
Best results in 10 minutes. Effective for up to half an hour.
Price: Let me clear my throat. This little lipstick vial of gum will cost you a whopping $90. Goodness to the gracious! Your decision though. If I thought gum would help, I would just get some $2 gum, but maybe my way isn’t getting me where I want to be in life. So, if you feel the urge, spend that $90 on a pack of gum. This chewing gum better has a genie in it that’s gonna grant me $90 or more worth of wishes or something. Bravo for them, brave move. Who could even think of charging people $90 for a pack of gum, that’s the innovation right there? That’s the invention only they could have come up with. I would never think of it. In fact, our initial assumption was wrong. This is not a pack of gum, it’s one piece of gum, for $90.00. Wow.
There it is. One piece of gum per package. Just for you. More expensive than caviar and steak tartare.
The Wisdom of Social Media on Cannabis detox mouthwash: Part II
“those mouthwash tests are literally garbage” (easy to pass)
We always have to check what the rabble have to say, after all, we are the rabble. The original poster said that the took a hit of clear right before the test. The test administrator swabbed his cheeks but never let it rest under his tongue. We’ve heard of the swabbing between the teeth and gums to collect the undisturbed saliva there or dipping under the tongue. Perhaps, we just discovered another reason people pass the test.
The administrator obviously thinks it’s a test of cheek cells like an HIV test or DNA test. It’s not. It’s a saliva test. She’s supposed to be sticking it where the saliva settles. So, he passes even though he smoked clear because he was nervous about the interview, which, of course, do not do that.
There’s another mistake in the original post, our man used Ultra Eliminex. Great product perhaps but he used the one that is made to detox your blood and urine, not your mouth saliva. He drank it, which you’re supposed to do with the detox drinks for your blood and urine. Had he gotten the mouthwash product instead, he would have to spit it out. So, by all means, don’t get these mixed up. Later down, we learn he did this because he was expecting a urine test (piss test).
For a saliva test, you want the mouthwash, and you want to spit it out. For a urine test, you want the detox drinks that tell you to drink it then pee several times afterward. Most of these products work by means of dilution. The OP, by the way, appeared to be talking about methamphetamine. If you’re nervous about a drug test, don’t smoke methamphetamine to deal with your anxiety. If you have an autonomic nervous system that works, consider yourself lucky and don’t try to make it a manual.
It’s already better than a manual. You’re nervous because this interview can determine whether you can put food on your family or not. You’re supposed to be nervous. If you’re pathologically nervous, go to the doctor already. Even if you don’t like to take meds, you can take something for anxiety only on special occasions, like a job interview. Don’t suffer needlessly. We have agents that reduce social anxiety, like clonazepam, you just can’t use them for very long (addictive).
“I can smoke daily and pass my work saliva test…”
These comments suggest the saliva test is easy to pass with brushing and mouthwashes. The only mouthwash recommended is Stinger, so they got an endorsement. Otherwise, the general consensus is just regular toothbrushing and regular mouthwash with Listerine or peroxide, your usual household stuff. So, you don’t have to spend much money on this unless you just need that extra conviction that it’s gonna work because it cost you something.
Laws that affect detox products
This is a production of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). It’s a report about detox products. According to the report, detox products can be considered ‘drug paraphernalia’ and selling them could be a crime. However, they found no federal convictions for selling detox products. We can assume there were also no federal convictions for possession of a detox product. It then notes that some states will punish selling, marketing, or manufacturing products that try to fool drug tests. It does not mention possession.
States which outlaw the sale of detox products
Kentucky
Florida
New Jersey
These laws do not mention possession so it is unclear if possessing these products is also illegal. The laws seemed to be aimed at companies who want to produce these kinds of products.
States where it is illegal to knowingly deliver or produce detox products
Louisiana
Texas
These laws are designed to make it impossible for detox products to be legally made or distributed in these states. In my opinion, the government needs to fall back and get out of people’s lives. It hasn’t nun of there business. Our government has gotten so obese. People have gotten so used to it, they think it’s normal. Everything you do, you have to find out the laws. The government keeps making laws without erasing any of them.
A system of law is a logic system, and if you keep making additions with no deletions, it will fail, or at least no longer resemble the original purposes whatsoever. It even has the tendency to be more likely to become the opposite of what it was that it is to become mere noise, random chaos. The land of the free is more likely to become the land of the enslaved than it is to revert to primitive jungle tribes. So, we have to watch out for that and stop feeding the giant, hoping all these laws will smite our enemies. If you have enemies, go smite them yourself, don’t keep pumping money into these wasteful government programs. It is a scam.
States which outlaw the sell of urine or adulterants
Virginia
South Carolina
Pennsylvania
Oklahoma
North Carolina
Nebraska
Arkansas
Illinois
Maryland
This becomes a slippery slope. Now it’s illegal to sell your urine. You can’t sell adulterants. It’s too much. Additionally, Illinois and Kentucky make it a felony to sell urine or detox products. North Carolina and South Carolina make a second offense a felony. The rest of the states make it a misdemeanor. Still, we hear no mention of possession or purchasing as a crime or a felony. However, in one case in South Carolina, a store owner advertised the sale of detox products in his store.
An undercover agent went to make the purchase, and bam, they arrested him for possession, which means South Carolina and possibly other states have laws against the possession of these substances. In any case, check the laws in your jurisdiction and abide by all which apply. The problem is if they take possession of your own urine a felony, aren’t you holding? Don’t they always have a reasonable suspicion that you might be possessing your own urine? Can’t they always pull you over to check for urine? We always think, they would never use a law like that, then soon as your back is turned that’s exactly how they use it. That’s why we should be stingy with lawmaking and quicker to erase a law.
Summary
It does indeed look like you can beat the system when it comes to mouth swab drug tests. Because these drugs only test for substances ingested within the last two or three days, if you get the heads up, you can easily abstain on the days leading up to the test. Also, you can easily use the brush your teeth and mouthwash method. Many users have extolled the efficacy of hydrogen peroxide mouthwash. So, it’s worth a try. Don’t use any dangerous methods and try to avoid any ingredients which you could not eat. If you get a detox mouthwash, be sure to spit it out. If you also use a detox drink, be sure to follow the instructions.
It may be a good idea to use both and here’s why. Drug residues of an unmetabolized drug could still be in your mouth if you ingested it by smoking. If you swallowed, snorted, or injected, the drug may be partially metabolized by the liver and then make it into the saliva where it may or may not be detected. So, if it’s in the bloodstream, a dilution method could make it less detectable. Dilution is normally used for urine tests, but it can also work for blood tests and it can help with saliva tests.
To get into the saliva, the drug has to pass through the bloodstream. If the bloodstream has extra volume due to the consumption of water and electrolytes, then the saliva will have a lesser concentration of drug metabolites. Don’t use detox products with a lot of herbal ingredients because each one of those ingredients will have an effect on the liver and if your body is still processing that drug, one of these herbs can inhibit the metabolism of a drug of abuse and lead to far higher levels than you would normally have. Also, if you use dilution, be sure to take in electrolytes with your water, because you can die from drinking too much water (google: water intoxication). All in all, you have a great chance of passing a mouth swab drug test, so relax. You’ll do just fine.
Disclaimer: Neither Leaf Expert or the writer is encouraging anyone to do anything which is illegal federally or in their state or jurisdiction. Research and follow all laws which apply in your region.
This article about Medical Marijuana was published on 01-03-2019 and updated on October 27, 2022. Medical facts in this article was checked and article was medically reviewed by our Leaf Expert Medical Team. Author of this checked article is DarylSeldon (MS) who is expert in Medical Marijuana