CGA Drug Tests

kdtcga

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Im looking to go to the Coast Guard Academy. I have personally never done any drugs, but my friend who also is going to the CGA has somewhat recently. I was wondering what the policy is on drugs and how they test. Do they test hair or urine? What happens if they find marijuana in your hair/system?
 
Can they detect what type of drugs you took from hair test or urine test?
 
depending on the test.
Don't know what CGA does specifically but in general:
typically a screening is done first. A much less accurate test. if the screening is positive then a true test is performed. or they consider that good enough and call it positive.
Urine test can detect up to 30 days ago depending on the user. Hair is for the life of the hair, meaning if the hair was growing at the time of use plus 30 days it will be positive. Showing up totally devoid of body hair is a dead give away you have something to hide.
Hair is less common because of cost. Las Vegas casinos use hair for potential employees
 
I would not be inclined to provide an answer to help somebody sleep better that deliberately broke rules. Sorry.
 
I was wondering what the policy is on drugs

Seriously? What do you think the policy on drugs is?

Given their mission to stop the flow of illegal drugs coming into the country via the seas, perhaps you can understand it?

PS - In 2012, Senior Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne was killed by drug smugglers when they ran him over with their small boat trying to get away. You think they're going to risk their lives to stop these drug runners and let some random dope-smoking cadet get a free pass?
 
All the SAs and the military have a zero tolerance of drugs. It sounds like you and your buddy are both appointees. Not sure on CGA, but at USNA and my guess is the other SAs, you will do a drug test within your first few days of reporting in. If USCGA and the USCG are your future, it is a drug free life and you will be randomly tested. Heck, in the USMC it wasn't uncommon to sometimes be tested twice a month.
 
Guys, at least give the kid the benefit of the doubt that he's telling the truth, until you have some evidence to the contrary. There's no need to belittle someone when you can just answer his question.

So, OP, your friend should be aware there is zero tolerance for drugs in the Coast Guard, and if he has taken them recently, there's a high probability he will not pass a drug test. He will be sent home if that's the case.

Hopefully he puts that behind him and moves on. I find it difficult to believe that someone intent on going to the Coast Guard Adademy would practice behaviors contrary to its stated mission. He probably needs to rethink his course in life.

And , OP, learn from his mistakes and make better choices.
 
I know teenagers make mistakes but if your friend is worrying about drug test maybe he/she should not goto SA, if this was a one time thing, stop now, drink lots of water & pray for the best.
 
My cadet son even stopped eating hemp seeds (yes, that extremely healthy super food that you can buy at any health food stores!) saying that it apparently has similar chemical make-up as marijuana and falsely tests positive. They were advised to take hemp seeds out of their diet to play it safe! They are THAT serious, and they should be. There's no place for drug-using hypocrites in the USCG!
 
OK, here is the deal. Initial urine testing and recurrent testing is performed with a urine drug screen, it is fairly sensitive.
You have 2 months before RDay, that is enough time for your system to clear of any prior exposures.
Never do drugs again and you will be fine during drug screening.
Everyone is allowed a pass up to this point in life, so consider it a learn for "your friend".
Avoid any friends that do drugs, do not let yourself be exposed to second hand use or to further temptation.
Have a great academy and USCG career.
Good Luck!!
 
My cadet son even stopped eating hemp seeds (yes, that extremely healthy super food that you can buy at any health food stores!) saying that it apparently has similar chemical make-up as marijuana and falsely tests positive. They were advised to take hemp seeds out of their diet to play it safe! They are THAT serious, and they should be. There's no place for drug-using hypocrites in the USCG!
Didn't know about that? Is this same as chia seeds, my son has been eating chia seeds with salad & yogurt to lose some weight?
 
And all this time I wondered why I liked poppy seed bagels so much.
 
http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/jaxdruglab/SiteCollectionDocuments/NDSL-JAX Newsletter 1-6.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/1856638/

The military recognized the poppy seed issue years ago after random urinalysis became routine policy in the 80's. Military testing levels are set high enough that anyone eating a poppyseed bagel would not test positive. It would take multiple poppy seed products to produce a result. That said, many military folks, out of "you can't be too safe" theory, avoid items with poppy seeds.

There is a test now for opiates that differentiates between opiate drug product chemical compounds and simple poppyseed by-products. I don't know whether that's the standard test now. The Smithsonian Magazine had an article on this, which I think is reputable enough to offer as a fact.

As I look back, I realize I avoided poppyseed bagels and lemon poppyseed cake and the like, even though I knew it was unlikely I would test positive. They sure do taste good now.

I had several sailors get into trouble over the years, testing positive for an opiate, when they took leftover pain pills from the condition it was prescribed for, and used them for something else a year later, without medical direction. Big no-no.
 
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Told DS to avoid all seeds even sunflower seeds, he looked at me like I was crazy....I told him this whole SA process & PTR packet made me crazy:)
 
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