False positive for morphine?!

[Edward]

I just went for a job and they did a drug and alcohol test. The alcohol was fine but then they said I have tested positive for morphine! I definitely haven't knowingly taken anything containing morphine so it has to be a false positive or I've ingested something in my kava. I seem to remember reading something similar about this a long time ago. Can anyone shed any light on this or have a similar experience?

 

[001jay]

Have you eaten poppy seeds recently - I know they can trigger a false positive sometimes.

 

[The Kap'n]

That's not one I've ever heard of @Edward. I would have them either test me at a lab, or re-test. I assume this is probably a dip style test? If so, they're notoriously unreliable. I highly highly doubt anyone is doping thier kava with morphine.

I've had dip style and hair tests that didn't show any opiates/opioids while drinking kava, so I think this may be just a classic false positive.

 

[Edward]

Have you eaten poppy seeds recently - I know they can trigger a false positive sometimes.

Quite possibly on some bread? I'll have to check.

 

[Edward]

That's not one I've ever heard of @Edward. I would have them either test me at a lab, or re-test. I assume this is probably a dip style test? If so, they're notoriously unreliable. I highly highly doubt anyone is doping thier kava with morphine.

I've had dip style and hair tests that didn't show any opiates/opioids while drinking kava, so I think this may be just a classic false positive.

It was an all in one test for 16 different substances. Pee in a small jar and the test strips are all on the side. I can't think it was from the kava but I don't have any other explanations except maybe the above?

 

[The Kap'n]

Poppy seeds are notorious for false (but actually true due to the codeine and morphine content of them) drug test results. The lab can test for thebaine, which will indicate food source instead of someone abusing opiates.

 

[Kojo Douglas]

There certainly should be no connection to Kava with this.

 

[Edward]

There certainly should be no connection to Kava with this.

No, almost certainly a poppy seed thing but I had to wonder for a bit.

 

[Zaphod]

I just went for a job and they did a drug and alcohol test. The alcohol was fine but then they said I have tested positive for morphine! I definitely haven't knowingly taken anything containing morphine so it has to be a false positive or I've ingested something in my kava. I seem to remember reading something similar about this a long time ago. Can anyone shed any light on this or have a similar experience?

These are the only threads that I remember about false positives. I think the poppy seed angle is probably the most likely...

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads...r-a-long-session-yesterday.14784/#post-168542

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/opiates-possible.8176/#post-97128

 

[Michael Nielsen]

Is there anything that regulates how those test should be done?
Its not your work to find false positives.
Its the labs

 

[Alia]

I just went for a job and they did a drug and alcohol test. The alcohol was fine but then they said I have tested positive for morphine! I definitely haven't knowingly taken anything containing morphine so it has to be a false positive or I've ingested something in my kava. I seem to remember reading something similar about this a long time ago. Can anyone shed any light on this or have a similar experience?

Can you let us know what the outcome is? I mean do they say-- do they actually think you take morphine based on test? And won't hire you for the job?
If so is there an appeal process.

 

[Edward]

Is there anything that regulates how those test should be done?
Its not your work to find false positives.
Its the labs

It probably isn't a false positive at all. I ate bread containing poppy seeds this morning and from what I've found out that is more or less definitely the cause.

 

[Edward]

Can you let us know what the outcome is? I mean do they say-- do they actually think you take morphine based on test? And won't hire you for the job?
If so is there an appeal process.

It was a test before a health and safety induction to work on some road upgrading works as a driver. After the failed drug test they said I couldn't do the induction and therefore couldn't do the job. I don't think they thought that I was a morphine user but maybe in the back of their minds were thinking I'd taken something like a painkiller in the last few days without knowing, maybe someone had given it to me.

They said that they would send the sample to a lab for further testing but I just said don't bother because I can easily get work elsewhere. After speaking to the company who was putting me forward for the job (it's all run by different companies) he's going to try and get me booked in for another test and induction next Monday. I'm not sure if they will go for that though as I have failed the drug test once.

At the end of the day it's not a big deal because I can get work anywhere but I wanted to do this job because it was close to home and good money.

 

[Zaphod]

It was a test before a health and safety induction to work on some road upgrading works as a driver. After the failed drug test they said I couldn't do the induction and therefore couldn't do the job. I don't think they thought that I was a morphine user but maybe in the back of their minds were thinking I'd taken something like a painkiller in the last few days without knowing, maybe someone had given it to me.

They said that they would send the sample to a lab for further testing but I just said don't bother because I can easily get work elsewhere. After speaking to the company who was putting me forward for the job (it's all run by different companies) he's going to try and get me booked in for another test and induction next Monday. I'm not sure if they will go for that though as I have failed the drug test once.

At the end of the day it's not a big deal because I can get work anywhere but I wanted to do this job because it was close to home and good money.

For what it is worth I had a friend in similar position - got a false positive, and asked for a follow up. The company took him without doing another test. The company said - yeah we get false positives all the time. Only the folks who know they were not going to pass a second time don't show back up. If you ask for a second test - they deduced you were not likely to fail a second time....
p.s. I should clarify that the friend was not a kava drinker.

 

[kasa_balavu]

Seinfeld did it.

 

[PurimGrogger]

It probably isn't a false positive at all. I ate bread containing poppy seeds this morning and from what I've found out that is more or less definitely the cause.

There was a joke I heard recently:
Potential Employer: Michael, we cannot hire you at this time because your drug test came back positive for banned substances.
Candidate: I can explain that. I had a bagel with poppy seeds on it the day of test.
Potential Employer: But that does not explain the positive results for LSD, methamphetamine and cocaine.
Candidate: It was an everything bagel.
--
Seriously, I hope you can get this successfully resolved..

 

[SelfBiasResistor]

The poppy seeds are the most likely cause if it's not just a false positive but only if the poppy seeds used were unwashed. It's getting to be very difficult to find unwashed seeds so that isn't as common of an occurrence as it used to be (at least here in the US). Like Kapm said if it's poppy seeds then you'll also test positive for Thebaine since no drug products contain it and the seeds do.

 

[RevRad]

Is there anything that regulates how those test should be done?
Its not your work to find false positives.
Its the labs

Generally the places that do the quick pee panel are supposed to send samples to a lab for gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to confirm, although I don't believe they have any legal obligation to in most cases.

 

[Go Krunk Yourself]

Are you using a popular vendor of Kava?

 

[Edward]

Generally the places that do the quick pee panel are supposed to send samples to a lab for gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to confirm, although I don't believe they have any legal obligation to in most cases.

They were going to but I initially said don't bother because it's easy enough for me to get work elsewhere. As it happens I'm going for an interview tomorrow and should be starting Friday. Probably a better job in the end so maybe someone was looking after me, the kava gods perhaps?