How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Your Saliva?

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There are multiple tests to determine whether there’s still marijuana in your system. Marijuana’s main cannabinoid THC can be detected through blood, urine, hair, or saliva. When you smoke weed, the primary cannabinoid that causes psychoactive effects, THC, is metabolized and soaked into your body. Since the saliva test, unlike the others, focuses on THC content, it might suggest that marijuana is only detectable for a short amount of time in your saliva. So, just how long does marijuana stay in your saliva?

Specifics of a Saliva Drug Test

Most saliva tests on the market today can detect weed in your saliva for about 24 hours after consumption. This test is especially effective if you have just smoked a joint. However, it can recognize pot for as long as 72 hours. If you’re a heavy smoker, it can pinpoint your cannabis intake for up to a week after you’ve fired up.

Therefore, in order to get past the mouth swab test and feel confident that you’ll pass, the best thing to do is to not smoke weed for at least three days. This will, in most cases, be enough time to skirt through the test. However, in the case of a surprise test by your employer, you’ll have to resort to other measures that will radically decrease the time that pot remains in your system.

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Factors for How Long Marijuana Will Stay In Your Saliva

There are more important things to take into consideration when trying to figure out how long weed stays in your saliva. You have to take into account your body mass, your level of physical activity, age, metabolic rate, overall health, the level of your individual drug tolerance, the potency of the weed strain, and how much weed smoked.

If you’re subject to a saliva test, it might become necessary to brush your teeth aggressively at least three times daily. This has been proven to be very helpful in the past. Pay particular attention to the gums, cheeks, and tongue. Drink lots of water to help flush your mouth and your system. You could also continually chew ice chips in an effort to decrease the level of toxins in your system. This will also dilute the saliva.

Another possibility is to use mints and other breath suppression products in order to mask the presence of weed. Eat high-fat foods just prior to the test. This will help absorb the THC. If desperate, try lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, or vinegar.

Detox Kits For Saliva Tests

Other methods for erasing the trace of cannabis in your saliva might require that you purchase distinctive products like detox mouthwashes such as Ultra Wash or Stinger Detox. Keep this on yourself at all times if you have one of those jobs with a reputation for surprising you with a random test. These products are the best in the market when it comes to cleansing your mouth of THC with a small, compact, fast-acting remedy. It contains the active ingredients of aloe vera, peppermint, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, and witch hazel. Do this at least 15 minutes prior to your test. You can begin to immediately remove all evidence of marijuana if you use this product and methods. Be mindful, however, that these remedies have a “Cinderella Effect.” After an hour, you’ll turn back into that homely stepchild, likely flunking your test.

What Are Saliva Drug Tests Looking For?

The swab test is not designed to locate the metabolites that reside in your fat tissue. The routine and more popular urine and blood tests are searching for 11-OH-THC and 11-COOH-THC. Some tests can’t even discern between them. This helps determine when you last got high. For example, if they find 11-COOH-THC in your body then they know that you smoke some time ago. Conversely, if they find 11-OH-THC in your system, they know that you smoked recently.

Your heart, lungs, and liver contain particular fatty tissue that can bring out THC COOH. Over time, small amounts of metabolites get released into your system. Just like all other toxins, they will eventually be removed from your urine as well as your excrement.

Advantages of Saliva Drug Tests

The advantage for the employer in utilizing the saliva test is that the person being tested must remain in the presence of the tester. This reduces the likelihood of being fooled by fake saliva. The test is administered immediately by using a brush, swab, or toothbrush and placing it between the lower portion of the cheek and gum for about a minute.

Another advantage of saliva tests for marijuana is that it allows for the use of an instant testing kit with the results available almost immediately. It removes the agonizing wait to see whether you passed. Also, the saliva test does not take into consideration how much weed you may have smoked in the past. So it’s only effective if you consumed marijuana within the past couple of days at the most.

The saliva test will more than likely become the “go to” method of attempting to discern whether an individual has smoked pot. Much like the breathalyzer for alcohol, it’s instant and far less expensive.

But no matter what, it always helps to know what to expect from these different forms of drug tests, and how to prepare.