What You Need to Know About Using Synthetic Urine to Pass a Drug Test
Thinking about using fake pee to pass your urine drug test? Countless people do it all the time. Some pass. But some don’t. If you have a pending drug test you need to pass and are thinking about using synthetic urine, there’s a few things you need to know. Let’s start at the beginning.
A Brief History of Synthetic Urine
While most people use synthetic urine to fake drug tests, this method of beating the system wasn’t always readily available online and in head shops and smoke shops nationwide. In fact, less than a century ago synthetic urine didn’t even exist.
When chemist Friedrich Wohler was trying to synthesize ammonium cyanate in 1828, he accidently created what would ultimately save some stoners that were required to pass urine drug tests. Rather than ammonium cyanate, Wohler ended up with synthetic urea, the main nitrogen-containing substance in the urine of mammals.
Shortly after, in a letter to a Swedish chemist friend, Wohler wrote, “In a manner of speaking, I can no longer hold my chemical water. I must tell you that I can make urea without the use of kidneys of any animal, be it man or dog.”
While today, synthetic urine is quite common, there was a time when it was believed that organic compounds couldn’t be made in a lab. Wohler’s accidental creation of synthetic urea was the first scientific discovery to refute vitalism, a scientific theory that asserted all living things are alive because of a “vital force,” and organic compounds could only be made by a living thing.
Little did Wohler know, he would change the lives of countless cannabis consumers almost 100 years later.
How is Synthetic Urine Made and How Does it Work?
Synthetic urine is made from a mix of various ingredients. Most synthetic urine kits you can buy include a blend of water, urea, creatinine, pH balance, and/or uric acid. They’re designed to mimic the exact concentration of urine, as drug testing labs also test for urine density.
Urine density isn’t the only thing drug testing labs are looking for. If you think they’re only looking for drugs in your urine, think again. Sure, they want to know if you’ve got drugs in your system. That’s the main point of testing your urine, but they also want to make sure that the urine you’re using isn’t fake.
Drug testing labs also evaluate the color, odor, and temperature of collected urine samples. While synthetic urine manufacturers typically get the color and odor down, the biggest issue individuals run into that use synthetic urine to pass a drug test is getting the temperature right. Urine leaves the body at 98.6 degrees. Drug test analysts are trained to ensure that urine specimens are between 90-100 degrees. Anything below or above raises a red flag and ultimately lets the lab know when an individual was trying to cheat.
Is Synthetic Urine Really Legal?
Today, more synthetic urine is used than ever before. According to a recent article in Maui Now, for the second quarter in a row, more synthetic urine is being used by people trying to “cheat the workplace drug testing system.”
Dr. Steve Brimmer is the Director of Toxicology at Diagnostic Laboratory Systems, Inc., a medical testing laboratory that conducts routine drug testing in Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan. The company’s Quarterly Results of Workplace Drug Testing found that the use of synthetic urine was up 38% in the first quarter of 2019 and 7.4% in quarter two.
The use of individuals using synthetic urine in hopes to pass their drug test has become so widespread that some states have made moves to ban it completely. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, at least 18 states have banned synthetic urine to date including Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire.
While Mississippi is a state trying to do the same with their proposed bill, the “Urine Trouble Act,” it has yet to receive Senate approval.
“Our employers are reporting to us a concern that more and more of their employees are using synthetic human urine to cheat on a drug test,” executive director of the Mississippi Association of Self-Insurers, Dan Gibson told the Washington Post.
Mississippi State Rep. Willie Bailey said that synthetic urine is a “hot seller” at truck stops, so much so that “they can’t keep it in stock.”
While the initial bill the Mississippi Association of Self-Insurers proposed failed, they plan to petition something similar again next year.
Just because synthetic urine is legal in some states, it doesn’t mean it’s the best way to go if you need to pass a urine drug test. Here we’ll take a look at some of the reasons why using fake urine isn’t necessarily the best idea if passing your drug test is important to you.
The Risks of Using Synthetic Urine
Here’s the thing about synthetic urine. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. If you want to pass a urine drug test, using synthetic might work. But then again, it might not.
Let’s say you decide to go the synthetic urine route in hopes of passing your drug test. If you don’t keep it at the proper temperature (90-100 degrees Fahrenheit, keep it hidden, or mix it properly, you can count on failing your drug test. In some states you might even be fined.
Methods of determining synthetic urine from the real thing include testing the urine sample’s pH, density, and smell. Most labs also test for creatine, an element produced by the kidneys. Some synthetic urine contains creatine, and some doesn’t. Testing labs might also examine the scent of the urine sample to ensure it’s the real thing.
Here’s something else. In some states, especially those which synthetic urine is illegal, there are testing labs that are looking for four common substances commonly found in a person’s urine:
Caffeine (found in tea, coffee, and chocolate)
Theobromine (also found in tea, coffee, and chocolate)
Cotinine (a substance produced when nicotine breaks down)
Urobilin (gives urine its yellow color)
This new method of testing was introduced last year at the Society of Forensic Toxicologists annual meeting and uses liquid chromatography to separate the urine sample. These separated compounds then flow into mass spectrometers where their molecular weight is detected.
According to a recent article in Scientific American, when scientists tested 10 synthetic urine samples against 300 real urine samples, all samples of real urine contained at least one of the four substances. The synthetic urine samples didn’t contain any.
Not all testing labs are looking for these substances commonly present in a person’s pee. But some are. And if you get caught, you could risk failing your drug test.
Final Thoughts About Using Synthetic Urine
How important is it to you that you pass your drug test?
For many people, a failed drug test means not getting the job or losing their job. For some, it might mean losing their freedom. Is using synthetic urine really worth the risk? Sure, it might work sometimes. It doesn’t work every time, though.
What does work, however, is our Two-Day THC Detox Kit. For basically the same amount of time it would take to get your hands on a synthetic urine sample, you can detox ALL traces of THC out of your system with our 48-hour kit.
We’ve spent almost a decade perfecting our proprietary formula and are so confident it will work to help you pass a drug test, that we’ll give you your money back if you fail. That’s right. You don’t pass, and you don’t pay.
Rather than risk not passing your test with synthetic urine, we urge you to check out our THC Detox Kit today. It ships quickly and is guaranteed to help you pass your drug test…or your money back. Questions? Contact us at any time. We’re always here to help.