Poppy seeds (everything bagels etc) on drug tests?

I heard that poppy seeds can cause your drug test to show up positive. The information online is really conflicting in terms of how much you can consume though.

Do I really have to give up on eating everything bagels from Panera?

 

One of my favorite hamburger joints serves poppy seed buns. I've never had any trouble with a drug test.

 

That issue was corrected decades ago by raising the cutoff level for the test.

 

I want to explain drug testing to you so you can better understand why you can enjoy those poppy seed buns. Look at this chart found in part 40.87.



People think drug testing involves the use of something like a mass spectrometer to find anything in the urine. This is NOT the case. What the labs do is use what's called a testing reagent and these are dipped into the urine. This is a photo of what a testing reagent looks like HERE, this is NOT what the labs use, but hopefully, you get the basic idea. When a person tests positive for a drug it does not mean you have it in your body as much as you have enough of the drug analytes that you go past the minimum amount allowed. If I understand it correctly the human body will change the poppy seed into something like morphine. Poppy seeds will not come close to raising these analytes to go past these cutoffs. There is another reason to not fear eating poppy seeds. The half-life of most all opiates is under 24 hours. This means after eating poppyseed hamburger after 24 hours have passed most of these analytes have been removed from the body.

I have been around DOT testing going all the way back to the 90s. I have yet to hear about anybody testing positive after eating poppy seeds that were verified. I will end my comment with one final BUT VERY important point. A lot of positive tests have been blamed on eating poppy seeds. I say this because there are a lot of myths and half-truths about this testing. Some of the myths are funny. The one where the male driver got a positive pregnancy report is one of my favorites.

Enjoy those poppy seed buns and stop worrying about testing positive!

 

I heard of a guy down in Memphis get a positive pregnancy report. He tried to use a lady's urine. Lol. That made laugh so hard I almost pissed myself. Pardon the pun

 

I'm so glad! Thanks guys!

 

I’ve heard of a guy that used one of those pregnancy tests just for jokes and it came out positive. Found out it meant he had prostate cancer but he found it very early so they were able to treat him.

 

That happened to a guy I knew who snuck his girlfriend's urine into the cup while meeting with his probation officer. He got arrested. Oh, and the baby wasn't his.

 

I will see your Up in Smoke clip and raise you this 2nd funniest clip. The best one I can't link to.

RIP Otto Felix (The Motercycle cop)