With marijuana becoming legal for medical use in more and more states, a question how to pass a drug test for people with prescription comes up. Even when it’s legal, some people just prefer not to show it to their employees.

-         Hi, I have a sort of weird question for you: I need to pass a drug test for THC, but it is prescribes to me by a doctor, so I shouldn’t have any reason to hide it, but unfortunately employers do not like to see it. So much for having it legalized…

-         I see. So, you use on daily basis, right? How much do you weigh? And when is your test?

-         My test is in three days. I’m about 160-165, and yes, I’m a daily user. I haven’t stopped, even though I knew that my test was coming up, because of my health issues and at first I wasn’t going to hide it, since I have the prescription for it, but then I found out that they still don’t accept it even with the prescription, so now I need help.

-         With daily usage on such a short notice the only thing that will work for you would be synthetic urine.

-         Fine, I used it before, years ago, when they weren’t even thinking of making it legal yet, but tell me something – can they tell what you use? Can they see that I also smoke, or just that I take Marinol? Is there a difference in a test?

-         Well, depending on the quality of marijuana that you smoke, it can contain up to 400 different chemicals, and Marinol is just a pure THC derived in a lab. In a standard drug test, like immunoassay and GCMS tests, no difference can be distinguished between them two, but if necessary, more tests can be done with the same sample to find out what exactly was consumed.

-         Oh, really?! I thought they couldn’t tell whether you smoke or take Marinol. I’m glad I called – it’s important to know this stuff, even if I’m getting synthetic urine, you know.

Although a growing number of states allow medical use of marijuana, only some employers in those states allow for medical marijuana, most do not, and those under federal regulations are specifically forbidden to do so. Make sure to inquire of your company policy well in advance before a drug testing.