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Forewarned is forearmed – that’s a lesson I had to learn the hard way! The world will never run out of the straight-laced people that want to spoil a little bit of grass with a lot of crap. The best way for you to beat them at their own game is to stay one step ahead.
One of the best things I’ve found to keep my habit in the dark is to buy myself a home drug test kit to check myself for the levels of marijuana in my urine. It’s an inexpensive and reliable way to learn if you’ll pass a drug test without tripping up any alarms!
But which are the ones that can work best? Here are the brands I’ve found to work exceptionally well.
Hold Up! Why Would You Want To Test Yourself For Drugs Anyway?
We’ll all have to go under random drug testing eventually – so why not be prepared?
Aside from self-tests, the only way to know if your little habit of smoking will show up on a test is on the test day itself. And by that point it would be too late to matter. With home drug test kits, you know if you’ve been smoking a little too much for comfort. That will give you the time you need to do a cleanse, cut down on the habit, and otherwise keep your joints to yourself.
On the other hand, if you ARE trying to get yourself clean and are using a product to do it like a detox drink, home drug tests are a great way to check if what you’ve been taking actually worked. I try taking a home drug test before any of my drug testing days at work, just to double-check that my usual detox drinks are working as intended.
Accuracy: The Name of the Game
If there’s one thing I never compromise with when I buy a home testing kit, it’s that it needs to be accurate. A home drug test kit that isn’t accurate can land you into a lot of trouble – aside from giving you a false negative, you can also miss other substances or drugs that have been laced into the kush you’ve been taking.
Remember, not all THC mixes are made equal. If you’re not buying straight from a dispensary, then your marijuana might have a few extra substances added to it for an extra effect. So while you may THINK what you’re smoking is just pure unadulterated marijuana, there’s a chance that there are other compounds in there.
That’s what I mean by getting an accurate drug test – it shouldn’t just identify that you’re smoking weed, but it should tell you what other substances are there. Again, drug tests today are sophisticated so you need a test that can tell you what EXACTLY is there to be detected in your urine. The more information you have, the more options available for you to act on it.
So What Exactly Makes a Good Drug Test Kit?
There are a couple of things that I always look for with home drug test kits (I’ll talk about them later), but the big one is the drug panel.
A kit’s drug panel count refers to the number of substances (not necessarily drugs) that it can detect with a single sample of pee. There’s a wide variety of drug panels out there, from 4-panel to 12-panel tests. Obviously, the more panels you can get in a single drug test kit, the better.
Aside from saving you a ton of money from having to buy separate drug tests for separate substances, having a big drug panel means that your test is more reliable. Remember that urinalysis doesn’t just check for weed: it breaks down your urine for an extensive analysis. So even if you scrub the traces of THC away from your body, it can and WILL detect other stuff in there!
Having a drug panel helps with that since it’ll tell you if there are other substances mixed in with your weed that you need to scrub from your system: not only do you avoid the dreaded false negative, but you also get a better idea of what your actual drug test will find with your urine.
Other things that make a good drug test are:
- Easy to use: Pee in a cup, stick the indicator inside, and wait. Shouldn’t get more complicated than that.
- Peer-reviewed: A product that has bad reviews is a product I’d stay the hell away from.
- Best value for money: These things ain’t cheap, but there’s a difference between “worth it” and “expensive”.
- Clear results: No use in having a 12-panel if you can’t make heads or tails out of the results panel. The drug test kit should give you clear results at a glance.
- Gives you a fast reading: Sometimes you need to test yourself an hour before you head into the clinic. You don’t have time to wait around to know that you’re clear to go.
Aside from that, doing your general research about your home drug test will go a long way. Not all of them are created equal – and you might have to try out a few different ones before you find the brand that works best for you.
But for my personal recommendations, I’d say you can start with these…
Easy@Home
For light users that are curious about how much their habit can be picked up by your average drug test, the Easy@Home range of testers is your best bet. They have a wide variety of products and drug panels and they come in cup and strip forms for easier use.
What I like: Easy@Home is one of those brands that you can just order off Amazon, which makes it more accessible than a lot of other drug test kits on my list. Since they have a wide range of products, you’re a little more covered in terms of what you want to test yourself for.
What I don’t like: There’s an issue with Easy@Home tests where their indicator strips malfunction sometimes – you can get a false negative this way, which is a big no-no in my book. But if you’re only looking to test yourself out of curiosity and don’t have a big career-defining job on the line, this much room for error should be fine.
Pros:
- Easily sourced online
- Can be used with little to no training
- Have a wide variety of tests for use
- Has both strip and cup tests for more accessibility
Cons:
- Can malfunction with readings
Identify Diagnostics
If you want to be sure to cover all your bases, Identify Diagnostics has you covered with their 16-panel tests. Like Easy@Home, they also have a wide variety of testers that you can buy on Amazon or on their official site, at the price of a higher cost compared to other products on this list.
What I like: If you want a wide net to catch every little thing getting into your weed, this is the test I’d choose. A 16-panel test is nothing to sneeze at – and with laboratory calibrated sensitivity, this kit can give you a reasonable idea of what your actual sample will look like once it’s sent in for testing.
What I don’t like: This isn’t something that you can order piece by piece. Prepare to shell out as they only start in packs of five and are most available in packs of ten, and some of their other products like their strip and dip tests don’t come in packs lower than fifteen. If you’re a regular user that monitors their THC levels this wouldn’t be a problem, but it might be a bit too high of an asking price for most casual smokers.
Pros:
- Laboratory-grade testing kits
- High accuracy rate
- Largest number of drug panels compared to other kits
- Widely available online
Cons:
- More expensive compared to other kits
- Large packet size make these heavier than other products
ITG Labs
ITG Labs is one of the most trusted names in home drug test kits – their stuff is the same as the tests you’d expect to see at the fancier, more high tech labs. If you’re absolutely certain that your weed isn’t mixed with anything else, this is the test for you.
What I like: You can’t get more legit than kits designed by professional pharmacologists. They’re some of the most accurate drug test kits you purchase, and you’re sure that the makers of the product know what they’re talking about. They also have an array of different testers for different drugs, so you know you have your bases covered.
What I don’t like: Each tester only checks for a SPECIFIC drug, no matter the number of drug panels it has. If you’re not sure that your weed contains anything else, you might have to purchase multiple packs to get a complete picture of all the substances you might test positive for. They’re also harder to find than other products, since selling them tends to be watched by the feds.
Pros:
- Accurate testing kit gives precise and clear results
- One of the best detection methods available for home drug tests
Cons:
- Somewhat difficult to source without arousing suspicion
- Can only test one type of drug at a time, meaning you need to buy multiple packs
PreScreen Plus Mini
The PreScreen Plus is the home drug test kit other drug test kits dream of being when they grow up. A tried-and-tested veteran of countless users for years, this product has everything you need from a home drug test kit and more. A well-kept secret by the professionals in drug testing, getting ahold of this kit might be difficult, but it’ll be worth it.
What I like: This is a drug test that’s been made by the people responsible for giving you urine tests, so you know that whatever results you’ll get from this kit, it’ll be as close as possible to what your actual results might show on the day of testing. Since their default kit comes in 12-panel, it’s enough to test all the standard compounds your average urinalysis might look for.
What I don’t like: PreScreen can be difficult to find, so you’ll have to do a lot of careful looking around to make sure you aren’t ripped off. The results are also time-sensitive, so you need to read them after five minutes but throw away the sample once ten minutes have passed.
Pros:
- Checks a wide range of different drugs including marijuana
- Long shelf life
- Company has experience in making drug test kits
Cons:
- Difficult to find
As much as possible, only buy any of these products via authorized retailers or straight from the manufacturer. Not only are you sure you won’t get a fake product that way, but they’re often sold at a much lower price than if you would get it from third-party resellers.
An Important Disclaimer
While these drug tests can give you reliable results at home, don’t expect that they’ll be the same method used for your actual urinalysis. Unless you’re a trained professional, don’t think your results are 100% reliable.
Home drug kits work well when you’re trying to find out if your detox/cleansing product works, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to the stuff that they have in labs. And depending on the drug you’re being tested for, it’s possible that your method of cleansing THC from your system won’t work. Urine tests are getting smarter and more sophisticated all the time, and there’s no guarantee that a negative home test will clear your lab sample.
If you want to be extra sure about clearing your drug test, I’d recommend using fake urine instead – stuff like Quick Fix is particularly effective. You don’t have to do any fancy preparations and you can use it straight out of the box. The formula is good enough to beat most laboratory tests and replicates clean, real urine in almost every way.
Pissing The Fright Away
So if you’ve ever been curious as to your odds on how to beat a urinalysis, those are the best kits that I can recommend that you use. Knowledge is power – and with the array of tests out there, you’ll need all the help you can get!
