A few days ago an older gentleman called in and was very upset.  It seems that his company had just instituted mandatory drug testing and he thought that he had no worries because he had never ingested an illegal drug in his entire life. The test results had come back and he tested positive for cocaine use. He was stunned.  There must have been some kind of mistake.

There could be a few different reasons why he tested positive for cocaine. A false positive result for cocaine could be caused by the use of certain antibiotics like Amoxicillin or Ampicillin.  Tonic water has been found to cause a false positive in some cases.  Illnesses such as kidney disease or a kidney infection or liver disease or liver infection may also result in a positive test for cocaine.  Even diabetes has been linked to showing a positive test result for cocaine in urine testing.  Also some topical anesthetics

may provide a false reading for cocaine.  Besides the above-mentioned reasons that the test results came back positive for cocaine there is always the possibility of human error in the lab doing the testing.  Mixing up the samples taken, mislabeling samples, incorrect paperwork and improper laboratory procedure are also possible reasons for failing the drug screening test.  In order to protect yourself from testing positive for something that you know you havenot done try to stay away from any over the counter drugs for up to seventy two hours before your test. You should also provide to the lab a complete list of any over the counter and prescription medicines that you may be taking at the time of your test and if you have diabetes, liver disease or kidney disease.