I need to pass a drug test and my cousin said he passed his urine drug screen by drinking lots of water.  Will I pass my drug test using this method?  Probably not!

If you think you will, then you are deluding yourself.  When you drink a lot of water before submitting your sample for a urine drug screen you will receive a result that is referred to as a negative dilute or diluted sample.  This means that your sample consisted mostly of water and there is a lowered amount of creatinine in your sample and this will result in you having to come back and give another sample on another day.

When you are told that your sample is diluted, it means that there is a reduced concentration of the drug or drug metabolite in the sample.  This is because there have been large amounts of fluids ingested and the amount of creatinine in your system is abnormally low.  This is what is referred to as an internal dilution. Another type of dilution would be to add water directly to the sample after it has been placed in the collection container.

A dilution is different than an adulteration in that with an adulterated sample, a foreign substance is added to the sample after it has been placed in the cup.  A diluted specimen is a urine sample that has a specific gravity of less than 1.003 and a creatinine ratio of less than 20 g/dl.  So don’t let your cousin delude you into thinking that you’ll pass your drug test by drinking lots of water.  Make sure you are prepared for your test.