How Long Weed Stays In Your System: Urine, Saliva, Hair and Blood

Weed, a green dried flower of the Cannabis sativa, also known as marijuana, is a popular drug that leaves its traces in humans’ saliva, urine, hair, and blood after use. Its strong presence in the human bloodstream begs the question, “How long does marijuana stay in your system?” To know how long weed stays in the system, it is imperative first to recognize and understand the chemical components of the cannabis plant.

The Cannabis Plant

The cannabis plant consists of compounds called cannabinoids. These cannabinoids are the causes of ‘highness’ and other drug reactions in the body. The most common cannabinoids are THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). These cannabinoids are present in marijuana and hemp. However, their proportions differ. Marijuana consists mostly of THC, while hemp consists of CBD.

THC Metabolism

When THC is consumed and absorbed into the bloodstream, it is distributed to tissues around the body and begins to cause its desired drug effect in the body. THCs path in the human body system is determined by the method of consumption. It travels quickly from the lungs to the brain and blood when inhaled.

However, it takes a more complex route by being absorbed in the intestines and sent to the liver when ingested. In the liver high volume of enzymes are present. THC is metabolized by liver cells in a process known as first stage metabolism. Are you wondering how to get thc out of your system fast? Continue reading.

THC metabolism can also take place in other tissues, including the brain. THC metabolic process also occurs in two phases. Keep reading PeaceHealth Laboratories to get know more about it.

Phase 1

This phase involves the creation of 11-OH-THC. It is about hydroxylation and oxidation. In this phase, certain enzymes combine with the cannabinoid leading to hydroxylation, which comprises the addition of oxygen and hydrogen to the cannabinoid structure. When this occurs with THC, it leads to the formation of an active metabolite known as 11-OH-THC, which has some psychoactive and sedative effects in the system.

When this process takes place, THC-COOH becomes inactive and unable to combine with the receptors of the cannabinoid. This property qualifies it as a compound without medicinal effects. Meanwhile, 11-OH-THC qualifies as active and able to bind. However, it is the inactive state of THC-COOH that makes it essential in a urine test, as it can be stored for over 30 days and can be used to detect weed in urine.

Phase 2

In this phase, the enzymes work on exiting THC from the body by first connecting THC-COOH to glucuronide, which is a molecule. The enzymes at work in this process are called UGT enzymes. When the connection between THC-COOH and glucuronide is completed, it transforms into a THC-COOH-glucuronide molecule. This new molecule then transforms into a metabolite and becomes ready to leave the human system through urine and feces, which is the final stage.

Most of the THC and its metabolites usually leave the human body within five days through urine and excreta. The remaining metabolites combine with tissue and leave the body more gradually. This gradual excretion process makes it possible to detect THC after weeks of use.

How long does it take THC to leave the system?

As mentioned earlier, THC is a compound that causes ‘highness’. As such, this can be used in the lab to determine the amount of marijuana (weed) a person consumes and for how long weed stays in the system. Are you wondering how long does it take weed to leave system?

Marijuana can be detected in different body parts, such as blood, saliva, urine, and hair. Each of these body constituents has its detection period, which is determined by the frequency of usage and dosage. THC can be detected within a period of 24 hours to 30 days from the moment of use. Read to know how long substances show up on a drug test.

How Long Will THC Stay In Urine?

• An infrequent user who uses it twice or thrice a week can be detected in 72 hours.
• For a moderate user, who uses it four times a week, it can be detected between 5 days to 1 week.
• For a frequent user, 10-15 days is the detection window.
• For a heavy user who uses more than twice a day, 30 days is the detection period.

How long does weed stay in your blood system?

• For irregular users, two days is the detection period.
• Weed stays in the blood system for up to 25 days for regular users.

How long does THC stay in saliva glands?

• THC can be detected in the saliva of a regular user for up to 29 days.
• It can be detected between 24 hours to 4 days for an irregular user.

How long does weed stay in your hair follicles?

• THC remains in the hair follicles longer than other parts of the body. Depending on usage, it can be detected in hair for as long as 90 days.

Other factors that you should know about THC in the system

It is important to note that a person who takes a high dosage of marijuana at least twice a day cannot have the same detection time as a person who takes a really low quantity of marijuana twice a week. So, as you can see, the answer to the question «how long does that take to get out of your system» is a «pretty long». Pot stays in blood, that is the fact. But there are a lot of essential criteria.

Apart from the factors stated above (body part, dosage, and frequency), other factors determine how long weed lasts in the body. They include body fat, genetics, and metabolism.

1. Body fat: THC is a fat-soluble compound, which means that it can attach itself to fat molecules, causing it to stay longer in the body. Weed metabolizes more slowly when a body has more fat compositions. This slow metabolic process allows THC to be detected. However, the process is different in the body of a person with less fat composition.
2. Genetics: Enzymes consist of variants that speed up weed elimination in the body. The speeds of these enzymes are dependent on the amount of concentration they have, and this concentration is often inherited.
3. Metabolism: An individual with a high metabolism is more likely to have a shorter detection window, as weed is dried out from the body through normal body functions.

Different Terms, Ways, and Frequency of Using Weed

As PeaceHealth claims, there are several terminologies and methods associated with weed usage. The most common methods of using weed are smoking and vaping. However, there are several ways to smoke, including rolling weed in a paper before smoking, smoking weed through a pipe, or smoking through a bong. As for vaping, there is only one way to inhale weed. Below is a table with information on different ways to use weed.

Terms	Ways
Rolling joints	Roll crushed and dried weed in a thin rolling paper and smoke. It comes with a filter that allows you to smoke to the end without burning your fingers. In addition, most rolling papers have flavors such as chocolate infused in them to make the smoking process interesting.
Smoking blunts	Wrap weed in a cigar wrap that contains tobacco and smoke. Blunts are thicker than a joint and last much longer.
Rolling and smoking a spliff	Combine tobacco and weed, wrap in a rolling paper like a joint, and smoke. The proportion of tobacco has to be more than that of weed.
Smoking pipes	Pour some broken weed into a pipe, make sure it is enough to fill the bowl section, light a flame to it, and inhale.
Smoke bongs	Bongs are water bubbles used to smoke weed. They are very old, popular, and called water pipes or bubblers. Fill the bong bowl with water or ice, place the weed into the bowl and seal the mouthpiece section with your mouth. Now, light the weed so the combustion process can begin. The bowl bubbles with clouds of white smoke, and the weed gets inhaled into your lungs.
Vaping	Heat the vaporizer to the preferred temperature, add some weed or weed extract into the vaporizer, inhale the vapor.
Weed Edibles	Weed can be added to cookies, crackers, chocolate bars, gummy bears, and brownies. To avoid overdose and allow the weed effects to kick in as they should, consume the edible slowly.

 

Marijuana/weed tinctures	This refers to oil-based weed extracts that are consumed underneath the tongue. Consume by placing a few drops under the tongue. The effects will kick in soon.
Dabbing medical weed	Heat a dab (a weed concentrate) at a high temperature and inhale. This is only recommended for people with high THC tolerance.
Ingesting fresh weed	Mix fresh weed with juice, smoothie, or drinks.
Medical weed topicals	Topical are ointments, lotions, or sprays with some weed extract. Wash the skin with warm soapy water and dry. Apply the topical to the affected area of the skin. Weed Topical is used to help with charred skin, muscle soreness, eczema, arthritis, swellings, joint pain, etc.
Medical weed beverages	Infuse weed into teas, juices, or smoothies and drink.

 

Types of Drug Tests and How to Pass Them

The word drug test can be quite challenging for many drug users as many corporations and organizations still demand drug tests despite being aware of their medical advantages. Furthermore, many organizations demand an impromptu test, which makes it difficult for frequent drug users to evade or pass.

There are more chances of THC showing up on a drug test than not. The most common question often posed by users is how long does it take weed to leave the system? The answer to this is that it varies depending on dosage and frequency. However, there are a few tricks for bypassing these tests with less consideration for dosage and frequency, and they are discussed below.

Urine drug test

This is the most common form of drug test and one of the most difficult to pass if you have been using weed. This test is requested by about 90% of employers due to its accuracy. However, there are tricks to bypassing it.

Urine tests comprise of a dipstick that reacts with THC and is saturated with an antibody. When the dipstick is inserted into the urine, there is a capillary action that prompts the urine to move up through absorption. If the urine contains THC, the antibody detects it and changes color.

If you are an infrequent user, weed can stay in pee and be detected in 72 hours. If you are frequent, it can be detected in 10-15days. For a heavy user who uses more than twice a day, THC stay in your system for a urine test within 30 days.

How to Pass a Urine Drug Test?

The best way to pass a urine drug test is to abstain from drugs. But if you are already a user, you can try some of the methods below to pass the urine drug test.

• Detox: Natural detox is one of the best and safest ways to clean weed out. There are various detox methods, drinks, and natural remedies for detoxifying but the most recommended for this purpose is Toxin Rid. It can clean you up in 3 days or less, depending on the course you use.
• Dilution: First, if you want to try this method, you should avoid using your early morning urine for the test because it will be more concentrated with metabolites which must have built up overnight. So it is best to use the urine which comes after.

To pass this test, you have to dilute your urine by taking plenty of fluid which will lead to frequent urination, thereby giving your urine a diluted appearance. However, this method can only work with a simple dipstick test which also relies on visual confirmation. If your result is rejected due to much dilution, do not take any more weed until you have passed the second test.

Some Tricks

It is also important to note that taking excess liquid like more than 1 liter of water per hour can be harmful to you. So if you must take more fluids, do not exceed a liter per hour.

• Adulterants: This method involves the adulteration of urine with substances like bleach, baking soda, vinegar, etc. It is not a very reliable method, as these added substances can be detected by a good lab or visual inspector. They can also be difficult to practice as some tests require you to be watched by someone, which will make it difficult for you to add any substances. However, it works most of the time.
• Substitution: This method requires you to rig yourself with a dehydrated or synthetic urine bag. These bags can be substituted for your own urine when you are told to pee. This method can be quite effective but requires some luck and an extra trick as it comes with a couple of challenges.

One of those challenges is temperature. Fresh urine from the body is usually warm, so you need to warm up the synthetic urine a bit so it can seem like it came from you. If it is not warmed up, it will be easy to detect that it is not from you. Another challenge is carrying the urine without being noticed. Some drug testers can tell at a glance that you are carrying a rig. However, as long as you warm up the urine and are not caught, you are good to go.

To warm up urine, there are some very reliable products like Testclear. Testclear is a reliable drug test company. They sell products that help warm up your urine with a small heater, keeping it warm for up to four hours. Testclear also has a powdered urine kit that allows you to mix the powdered urine and warm it up immediately afterward. 

Hair Follicle Test

Hair follicle tests are only accurate 52% of the time, which makes them unreliable, but they are preferred by most organizations and agencies because they can be used to detect drugs for as long as 90 days.

For a hair follicle test, around 100 hair strands are collected from your head or other parts of your body and sent to a lab for testing. Due to different hair growth rates, this test cannot detect precisely when the drug was used, but it can detect if the drug was taken one week to 90 days before. There are also cases where a hair follicle test can detect drugs of 12 months before. This happens in rare cases and mostly when the hair of the individual grows slowly.

How to Pass a Hair Follicle Test?

Macujo method: This method is a 7-step hair cleansing process, and it is very efficient. It involves the opening of the hair cuticles so that the hard part of the hair in the middle is exposed and all stored drug metabolites are flushed out.

First, the scalp and hair are washed with warm water but not dried. The hair is then exposed to vinegar and massaged thoroughly. Afterward, shampoo and soap are used to loosen the hair for 30 minutes. When this process is over, Aloe Rid detox shampoo (Old Style Aloe Toxin Rid Shampoo) is applied thoroughly and used to wash the hair in order to eradicate drug metabolites from the hair cuticles and follicles.

Saliva Drug Test

This is one of the easiest and most reliable drug tests, with an accuracy of 98%. It is the preferred drug test of over 80% of workplaces, mostly because it is impossible to fake or switch samples. Saliva has a detection period of 24 hours to 30 days. For a regular user, weed can be detected in saliva for up to 29 days, while for an infrequent user, it can be detected between 24 hours to 4 days. Saliva test consists of mouth swabbing and is also called a mouth swab test.

How to Pass a Mouth Swab Drug Test?

To pass a mouth swab test, you have to wash your mouth thoroughly. Most people prefer to brush, floss, and repeatedly rinse until they feel all THC traces are gone. This process works sometimes but can result in injuries on the tongue and gum if not handled properly. This is why a detox mouthwash is preferable.

Toxin Rid Rescue Wash Mouthwash is ideal for this test as it has been tested and proven to rid your mouth of drug toxins just before the drug test occurs. It also comes in a small 1-ounce bottle which allows for a non-detectable carriage and disposal.

Blood Drug Test

The blood test isn’t the preferable form of drug testing for both agencies and patients as there is a little risk of death (rare cases) or bruising associated with it. It is mostly required in a clinical setting where there is an accident or injury. For the blood drug test, a small vial of your blood will be taken and tested for traces of THC. Weed has a detection window of 24 hours to 30 days in the bloodstream. A blood drug test can detect THC within 25 days for a regular user, while for an infrequent user, it can be detected in a 2-day period.

How to Pass Blood Drug Test?

To pass a blood test, you need to detoxify or abstain. The blood cannot be cleansed of weed, but natural detoxification, which spans 30-60 days, can eliminate all traces of pot in the blood. For a heavy user of weed, a 90 days span is best for detoxification of the blood. In addition to detoxifying, you should exercise daily, eat well, drink lots of water and consume a lot of vegetables.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

• Who may be considered a frequent user?

A frequent user of weed is a person who uses weeds 3 to 4 times a week or more.

• Is it possible to force metabolism?

No, you cannot force metabolism.

• Is it possible to receive a false positive test for THC?

Yes, it is possible.

Conclusion

Weed has its advantages, but one should never abuse it. Abuse of drugs can cost you your freedom, job, and even family. Therefore, it is advisable to stick to a balance or abstain if possible, especially if faced with a drug test. Also, make sure that whatever product or method you are using to pass a drug test is safe and reliable to avoid damage to your health.