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North Carolina Drug Testing

Last updated : April 21, 2025

We have thousands of North Carolina drug testing locations. However, you realize USA Mobile Drug Testing will come to you, right? Just let us know when and where. We’ve got you covered from there.

We do it all—24/7/365!

Call us at 800-851-2021 to schedule a North Carolina drug test now!

 

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North Carolina drug testing locations

Don’t worry if your city isn’t listed. Just call 800-851-2021. We’ll be happy to assist you in finding a location nearby. However—and we’re sure to mention it during the conversation—you might decide to have us come to you instead.

That’s right. You’ll never have to search for “drug testing near me” again! We’ll send a mobile collection specialist to your location, anywhere throughout the state— 24/7/365.

Employees on the job site? We’ll find them.

Night shift coming due for the annual fitness-for-duty drug test? Why not have us show up during their shift rather than interrupting their sleep schedule to report for testing during normal business hours? The phrase “drug testing near me” takes on an entirely new meaning when the test rolls right up to your location, doesn’t it?

We offer employee education classes, management training, and DOT services. We can also create your company’s drug-free program. We’ll even customize your policies to specifically meet the needs of your business.

North Carolina drug testing laws

The state of North Carolina has outlined its expectations regarding employee drug testing in its Controlled Substance Examination Regulation Act.

Employers must adhere to specific rules when implementing employee drug testing including:

  • Reliable and minimally invasive exams and screenings must be used.
  • Specimens must be collected in a secure and sanitary manner either on-site or at an approved testing facility.
  • The employee’s dignity must be considered at all times.
  • Positive test results must be confirmed through secondary testing unless the employee signs a waiver agreeing to the preliminary result.
  • An established chain of command in regard to drug testing procedures must be in place and followed explicitly.

Instant result tests, otherwise known as point of collection tests (POCT), are to be used for pre-employment testing only. There are no other restrictions in regard to other employee drug testing methods which are urine, hair follicle, and oral fluid tests.

When establishing your drug-free policies and procedures, it’s recommended that you incorporate using a Medical Review Officer to receive drug test results. This prevents exposure to liability at some point should a test result be challenged.

If an employer or a prospective employer in North Carolina has asked you to take a drug test, you will want to know your legal rights. Federal law places few limits on employer drug testing. Although the federal government requires testing by employers in a few safety-sensitive industries (including transportation, aviation, and contractors with NASA and the Department of Defense), federal law doesn’t otherwise require – or prohibit drug tests. For the most part, state and local laws determine whether a private employer may require drug testing.

North Carolina allows employers to require applicants and employees to take drug tests, as long as the employer follows state procedures. Employers are not required to drug test.

Drug testing for North Carolina applicants

Employers in North Carolina may require applicants to take a drug test as a condition of employment. Unless the applicant signs a written waiver, a positive test must be confirmed at an approved laboratory. Applicants have the right to retest a confirmed positive sample at their own expense, at the same lab that confirmed the sample or at another approved lab of their choosing.

Drug testing for North Carolina employees

North Carolina employers may require employees to take drug tests. There are no restrictions on the circumstances in which an employer may require a drug test. Testing must be performed under reasonable and sanitary conditions, and “individual dignity” must be respected to the extent possible. Drug tests must be performed by an approved laboratory. Employees have the right to retest a confirmed positive sample at their own expense, at the same lab that confirmed the sample or at another approved lab of their choice.

According to the Controlled Substance Examination Regulation Act, the following samples may be used for drug testing:

  • Urine
  • Blood
  • Hair
  • Oral fluids

Protocols for drug testing in North Carolina

If a drug test for an applicant or employee produces a positive result, then the employer generally must confirm that result by a second examination at an approved laboratory. The laboratory conducting the confirmation test must preserve a portion of confirmed positive samples for at least 90 days (NC. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 95-232).

Within 30 days from when the results are mailed or otherwise delivered to the employer, the employer must give written notice to the affected applicant or employee of:

Any positive result The applicants or employee’s rights and responsibilities regarding re-testing.

(13 NC. Admin. Code 20.0402.) Sample notices are available on the North Carolina Department of Labor’s website. An applicant or employee may have a confirmed positive sample re-tested at the same or another approved laboratory. The applicant or employee must provide a written request to release the sample, specifying the laboratory to receive it. (NC. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 95-232(f).

Payment for the drug test in North Carolina

The employer must pay expenses related to all drug tests, except re-tests requested by the applicant or employee (13 NC. Admin. Code 20.0601). Applicants or employees must pay all reasonable expenses for re-tests of positive samples, including:

  • The actual cost charged by the laboratory.
  • The laboratory’s assessed fees for expenses associated with the re-test, including those for shipping and chain of custody.
  • The employer’s expenses for shipping and chain of custody procedures up to $15, unless the employer proves that the actual cost was higher than $15.

Controlled Substance Examination Regulation Act

Prospective employees may be tested either:

  • Onsite, meaning any location, other than an approved laboratory, at which screening tests are performed on prospective employees.
  • At an approved laboratory. (NC. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 95-232(b); 13 NC. Admin. Code 20.0101.)

Confirmation tests of positive results and all tests for current employees must be performed at an approved laboratory (NC. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 95-232(c), (C1)).

Marijuana laws

Medical marijuana is available on a very limited basis in North Carolina. Medical marijuana patients must have been diagnosed with intractable epilepsy.

Recreational marijuana has not been legalized in the state. In fact, North Carolina carries stiff penalties for those found with marijuana in their possession.

Testing methods

Blood testing is rarely used for employee drug testing due to its expense and highly invasive nature. Blood tests detect the parent drug rather than drug metabolites. Therefore, the detection window is mere hours for nearly all drugs. However, methamphetamines remain in the blood for one to three days.

The test must be administered in a medical setting by trained medical personnel. It’s often reserved for post-accident testing when determining

There are three primary test methods used for employee drug testing. They are the urine, mouth swab, or hair follicle drug tests. Georgia’s drug-free workplace requirements don’t include using a specific drug test. Therefore, employers who aren’t mandated to use the DOT drug test can use any of the testing methods that they choose.

Urine drug test

The urine drug test tops the charts as the most used employee drug testing method. As a matter of fact, it was the only drug testing method available for many years. However, over the years, drug users became more capable of finding successful ways to adulterate this test. Scientists invented both the mouth swab test and the hair follicle test in an attempt to combat that problem.

Today, urine tests have become extremely effective at detecting drugs and adulterants or other attempts to falsify these tests. Drug users still try, however, and discover the hard way that shouldn’t have been their chosen course of action.

The identification period is drug-specific and varies from mere hours up to three weeks or so. Marijuana is the exception to the rule as chronic users can test positive for THC for over thirty days.

These tests are cost-effective and produce accurate results. If the immunoassay (IA) test shows a positive result, the sample is sent for confirmation testing using the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MC) test. This test also specifies the drug(s) and drug level(s).

Results return in less than a week.

Mouth swab test

This method also goes by the names of saliva or oral fluid tests. It’s in the midrange in regard to cost being more expensive than the urine test but less expensive than a hair test.

The mouth swab test detects recent and even current impairment for some drugs. The window of detection is the shortest of the three primary methods, however, only lasting up to seventy-two hours depending on the drug. For instance, marijuana is only detected on this test for about twenty-four hours no matter how often the drug is ingested.

Mouth swab testing technology is becoming more and more sophisticated and the results are extremely accurate. Consequently, it’s virtually impossible to switch the specimen as the test subject never leaves the testing technician’s sight. Moreover, attempts to falsify the test using mouthwashes or other adulterants claiming to mask or “detoxify” the drug metabolites in the body are false. The body is constantly producing saliva and it will be collected by the mouth swab.

At the lab, the mouth swab samples undergo an IA test and those yielding positive results go on for the GC/MS test for confirmation. The second test also determines the drug type and level found in the system.

Employers receive the results in a couple of days.

Hair follicle testing

The hair follicle test is unique in that it identifies any and all drug use for a 90-day period. It’s more expensive than either the urine or saliva drug tests. However, the extended detection period outweighs the cost in the eyes of many. In fact, some employers in the trucking industry require their employees to submit to both the DOT drug test and the hair follicle test. They choose to incur the added expense of additional drug testing to have access to the extended detection period.

In addition, the hair follicle test is impossible to falsify. Drug metabolites store themselves throughout the body until excreted. Those that stow away in the hair follicle, actually grow out into the hair shaft becoming a part of the hair. Moreover, there’s no way to rid the hair of them or to cover them with a substance that will hide them from the test.

We determine the 90-day detection period by hair length. Human hair grows at the rate of about 1/2 inch per month. The standard test length for the hair follicle test is one and one-half inches. Thus, one and one-half inches equals ninety days. However, laboratories honor requests to extend the detection window even further by increasing the length of hair tested.

It won’t be much longer before the DOT drug test changes from the urine test to the hair follicle test. The request is currently making its way through the chain of command and isn’t expected to meet with resistance at any point along the way.

Comparatively, it takes about a week to receive results.

Drugs detected

The standard 5 panel employee drug test is widely used by employers of the general workforce. As its name implies, it accurately detects five of commonly abused drugs in the workplace. The drugs identified on the test typically include amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, marijuana, and PCP.

However, some employers choose to use a more extensive test and look to the 9, 10, or 12 panel drug tests. USA Mobile Drug Testing offers these test panels, however, we don’t limit employers to the drug panels we place on them. Employers are free to swap a drug on the test panel for another, add additional drugs to the test panel they’ve chosen, or even create their own unique drug screen panel.

Moreover, we have the capability to test for all manner of drugs, including “specialty” drugs such as bath salts, K2, steroids, or synthetic opioids.

Some specific drug identification periods

We’ve mentioned that the specific length of drug detection varies, with the exception of the hair follicle test. Some examples of detection periods follow:

  • Amphetamines and methamphetamines are detected on the urine test for two or three days, but habitual use may show up for four days. The saliva test identifies amphetamines for twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
  • Barbiturates remain detectable in urine for up to three weeks and in the saliva for up to three days.
  • Benzodiazepines show up in urine tests for up to ten days and in the saliva for about two and a half days.
  • Cocaine is traceable in urine tests for up to three days and in the saliva for up to two days.
  • It takes a couple of hours for ecstasy to show up in a urine test and it can be identified between one and three days thereafter. Saliva tests pick up on ecstasy in as little as 15 minutes after taking the drug. It remains traceable for one or two days.
  • Synthetic opioids, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone, are identifiable in urine between two to four days. Saliva tests vary a bit more ranging from up to 12 to 48 hours depending on the frequency of use.
  • Methaqualone detection lasts up to three days when using a urine drug test. The saliva test detects this drug for at least one day, however, if used frequently it shows up for a longer period of time.

DOT information

The DOT (Department of Transportation) was created to regulate the safety-sensitive workforce through the following administrations.

  • Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
  • Federal Railroad Administration
  • Federal Aviation Administration
  • Federal Transit Administration
  • Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
  • United States Coast Guard

The goal of the DOT is to ensure the safety of the general public as they travel by land, air, or sea. One of the regulations includes safety-sensitive employee drug testing. Employers regulated by the DOT implement the following employee drug tests:

The DOT mandates the use of the urine drug test that includes a specific drug panel.

DOT drug test

The DOT drug test requires employers to test for five of the most commonly abused drugs in the workplace. They are amphetamines, opiates, cocaine, marijuana, and PCP (phencyclidine). However, in a direct attempt to combat the growing opiate addiction crisis plaguing our nation, they added four semi-synthetic opioids to the test panel in January 2018.

Hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone are highly addictive pain medications. Heavily prescribed by physicians for years, these drugs are highly addictive. Sadly, many who found themselves craving the drugs when they were no longer prescribed the medication turned to the black market. Or, perhaps, in an attempt to feed the addiction when their drug of choice became too costly, they turned to heroin use instead.

The DOT has long considered switching from the urine drug test to the hair follicle drug test. We previously stated that the official request is currently making its way through the chain of command. Many expect it to complete the process in the near future. In the meantime, the oral fluid test has been approved for use as soon as there are two SAMHSA-certified laboratories available to process the tests.

FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

The FMCSA Clearinghouse has been up and running for over three years now. It tracks safety-sensitive employees who have outstanding drug or alcohol violations. Employers no longer need to conduct manual inquiries with previous employers in addition to the Clearinghouse query. Only Clearinghouse queries are necessary.

Now, it’s virtually impossible for drivers with violations to obtain a job with a new employer by simply not listing the employer they worked for when receiving the violation. Furthermore, less-than-honest drivers with drug or alcohol violations can no longer pick up and move to another state to apply for a new CDL. The Clearinghouse links the driver to his old CDL, thereby, maintaining complete and accurate information.

Drivers from Canada and Mexico who transport goods in the U.S. must be listed in the database as well.

Once a driver successfully completes their return to duty process, they will be allowed to operate a commercial motor vehicle again. However, records of drug and alcohol violations will remain on file in the Clearinghouse for five years or longer if the driver hasn’t yet completed the return to duty process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I lose my job if I refuse the random drug test at work?

If your employer has over 50 employees and does random drug tests, you’re supposed to take the test if your name comes up. Consequently, if you refuse, your employer has the right to follow the drug testing protocol set in place.

I’m an owner-operator, so it’s just me. Do I have to register for the Clearinghouse and submit a query on myself?

Yes, you have to be accounted for in the database. Your C/TPA (consortium/third-party administrator) can conduct your queries on your behalf. If there should be a drug or alcohol violation, the C/TPA is responsible for reporting to the Clearinghouse.

So, do I have a right to see what the Clearinghouse says about me?

Yes. Drivers can access the database free of charge at any time. Head over to the website to get signed up.

Medical marijuana is legal. I’ve got Crohn’s disease and have medical authorization to use it. What happens if I pop positive on the test though?

Employers hold the right to make that decision. What does your company’s drug policy say about marijuana? If they don’t stipulate allowing for medical conditions, they have no choice but to follow company policy. In most cases, employees are terminated.

Does everybody drug test now?

No. Not all employers test for drug use. But the majority do because maintaining a drug-free workplace is a way to ensure a safe work environment.

How long are drugs detected in my system?

It depends on the testing method your employer uses. The hair follicle test yields results for 90 days, up to 30 for the urine test, and the mouth swab test up to 72 hours. Detection times vary depending on the drug for urine and mouth swabs. But the hair test shows all drug use for 90 days.

I heard there is a breathalyzer for marijuana now. Is that true?

Several companies are in the testing phases. A THC-detecting breathalyzer will be a benefit to law enforcement and employers in states that are legalizing marijuana. This will enable them to know whether or not a person is currently impaired

If I drink lots of water before my urine test, will it come back negative?

If your urine is exceptionally diluted, it will probably come back with an inconclusive result.

I have a shy bladder, and I know this drug test is not going to “go” well. What do I do?

Lots of people have this problem. Talk to your HR department. There may be another method in place for situations like yours. If not, they may work with you to reach a solution, i.e., making a change in that protocol! Good luck!

My doctor prescribed my pain medication. Can he write me something that will be accepted by my employer if I get pulled for a random?

Nope. Drug-free is drug-free. If you are taking medication and a drug test pops positive, your employer will follow the company procedures set in place.

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