There are many people who ask the question “how long does marijuana stay in your system?” Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not simple and straightforward, the fact is that if you want to use a drug test effectively, it is a question that requires an answer.
So let’s cut through the misinformation on the Internet and provide one!
Before we understand the period of time that marijuana lasts in the system, there are a couple of facts that you should know.
– The presence of marijuana is detected by a drug test through the presence of the active chemical THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol. Technically, what is detected is known as THC-COOH (11-nor-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid).
– The time that marijuana stays in the system depends on the amount of marijuana intake and the frequency at which it is consumed.
– When you smoke marijuana, your body breaks it down like it would anything else. The products of this breakdown are known as metabolites. The main metabolite of marijuana is THC-COOH. THC-COOH can be stored in the body in fat if you’ve consumed more than your body can get rid of at a given time.
– If you consume marijuana continuously, your system will be sort of “overloaded” with THC-COOH (which is not to say that you’ll be continuously high). Some of that THC-COOH will be stored away in the fat since the body can’t get rid of it. This means that the THC-COOH will be present in the system for much longer, as the body will have to play catch up at getting rid of the THC-COOH. Think of it as the difference between eating a peanut butter sandwich and a KFC Double-down. Both count as one meal, but one has far more calories and fat content. Since the body can’t use the calories and fat content it’ll store them away. Same with THC-COOH and someone who smokes a lot of marijuana.
– Marijuana drug testing can be conducted using saliva, urine, hair and sometimes blood as the sample.
– The specific window that you need to check for marijuana consumption depends on whether you are checking on someone who has tried for the first time or if you are testing someone who smokes a few times a week, or someone who smokes daily.
How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Saliva?
Marijuana does not stay in saliva for very long. Most of the rules that apply to marijuana’s detection time in urine and hair do not apply to marijuana in saliva. It can be detected by a saliva drug screen about an hour after intake. The accuracy of a saliva drug test (97%-98%) will decrease rapidly about 12 hours after the marijuana was consumed. So while a saliva drug test option may be useful if you want to find out if someone is high or if they were smoking yesterday, it is not an effective test for long term or less recent use.
How often someone smokes marijuana (for example, every day for 6 months, or just once) has no bearing on the results of a saliva drug test.
How Long Does Marijuana Stay In Urine?
The amount of time marijuana can be detected in urine depends on the amount and frequency of its consumption. Marijuana can stay in the urine for up to two months in cases of very frequent, prolonged use. Basically, the more you use marijuana, the longer it will remain in your urine. If you have just tried marijuana, for example, and that was your only use, it will probably be out of your urine within a week.
Those who kick the habit after consuming the drug almost daily can still have THC traces in the urine for a month or longer.
Be sure when testing to wait for about 2 to 5 hours after consumption or last suspected conception for THC to appear in the urine though.
How Long Does Marijuana Stay In Hair?
When smoked, marijuana enters the bloodstream and as the blood nourishes the hair, the drug gets into the hair follicles too. As the hair grows, the hair follicles contain traces of THC that can confirm the intake of marijuana. THC can show up in hair about a week after consumption (it takes the hair bearing traces of THC that long to emerge from the scalp).
Drugs take a long time to deteriorate in the hair and therefore testing can be done many days after consumption. A standard laboratory will check up to 90 days but a court or another law enforcing institution can have hair analyzed for more than 3 months as well. Special arrangements can usually be made with laboratories if inquiries are made.
While hair drug testing provides a good opportunity to confirm whether someone has been on marijuana, and has the largest detection window, the issue is that this drug is not one of the easiest drugs to hair test. THC, when it’s in your body, does not always bind successfully to the hair follicle. Therefore, it is possible that a semi-frequent user may get a negative reading on a hair follicle drug test while someone who had it just once a couple of weeks back may get a positive result. It is a bit of a toss up. The hair follicle drug test is therefore not considered to be as reliable for marijuana as it is for other drugs like cocaine (and for drugs like cocaine, and all other drugs tested for in a standard consumer hair drug test, hair follicle drug testing is actually found to be better at catching drug use than urine tests).
So while the question “how long does marijuana stay in your system” is a pertinent and popular one, there are all of the above factors to consider before an appropriate and correct answer can be given. Even though there is all this discussion about the whole question, if you are concerned, the best thing to do is to just go out there and purchase a home drug test and check out whether you or someone else test clean or not.
(Check out our home drug test product line here! We carry all of the tests profiled above in the chart.)
– Anne Hamilton
thanks alot ive been searching the web for a while an finally found a sight that answered my question.
how long would marijuana stay in my system if i took 1 hit i weigh 165lb?
my husband and i rarely use, i mean like 2 or 3 hits every 5 weeks or so… the last time he used was 9 days ago would it be out of his system by now?
the last time i smoked was april 17. will it show up in a hair testing if it has alomost been 90 days
Thanks like above ive been looking all over the web and people were saying all kinds of crap someone said that it would take years it didnt sound right to me ive been clean over a year and passed a urine test so im sure now i can pass a hair test thanks again
I smoked nearly everyday for 12 months ( About 3 /4 bong hits a night ) of outdoor groun bud. I have been clean for 21 days.
How long until i will pass a 15ng Urine test. I am 5.2 and 63KG so im not very heavy and not very tall..I do a lot of jogging and sit ups push ups and abs exercises..Will it be out of my system in 1 month or will i have to wait longer to pass a 15NG THC utine test
This website has been the most informative out of all the sites I have been to in researching this topic. I may have to take a hair test for a job and have not smoked marijuana in about 100 days. I get a haircut about every 3 weeks and keep it about an inch long on top, some somes a little longer. Will I pass this test? Thank you
I failed my urine test for pot at my dr’s ofice, had passed 2 home drug test b4 i went to take the 1 that really mattered and failed it. I was 57 days clean, heavy smoker for over 20 years. i also was smoking a very potent strand. Guess i shoulda waited to be tested after 90 days, heard it could take up to 6 mos to pass.I’ve learned a very important thing, stop smoking dope and to test myself regularly. I had started back smoking after i failed my test. I’ve quit again, this time for good. Now it’s just a matter of time for me i guess. I smoked about 7 grams, after being quit for 57 days.Maybe since i did have some clean time, it will get out of me a little sooner this time. Dont put all your trust in those home test either, i know for a fact they can be wrong!
what if i smoked every day for three months and have been clean for 14 days?
i’ve only smoked 5 times in my whole life and it was over the course of 3 months. I have a required drug test for my school soccer team. in about 4 months. should i be good?
i used to smoke on a daily basis but havent smoked since july 16, i were to take a couple of hits, how long would it stay in my system?
been clean for 6 weeks. was heavy smoker {everyday} shave my head once a week, how long before i can pass hair test?
ok i smoked maybe about 2 times or 3 times a week for a few years on and off then i stopped for about 3 months excercised alot and ate pretty healthy then i hit a blunt about 2 times only a month ago if i take a 5 panel drug screen do you think i will pass??
I use to smoke everyday for at least 4 months now i have a month straight but i want to smoke for at least a week over this christmas holidays and i have to get a urine test in about 2 months (february) will i be good ?
i ate rice crispy n weed was in ate did eat alot n it was my first time how long will it be in my body system
I havent smoked since aug 28h an went for hair follicale test yesterday dec 29 is it possible to be in my hair still thank you i pray its not i need this job lol thank you
I smoked for about 2 years. I quit for 30 days, but never tested. I smoked for the 30 days following, then 32 days ago I quit again. I have a Quick Screen Pro which I believe is the one used in drs offices. I failed it 4 days ago. I have been drinking Water, Gatorade, and Cranberry tea like crazy. I am 5.5 and weigh about 149 lbs. I am generally a runner, but have been so busy with work that I havent run lately. I know that is helpful. I am more muscle than fat. How long will it take before I can pass a UA?
I took one hit after 60 days of being clean I’ve very slim underweight… I usually drink 8 glasses of water everyday for the past 60 days. How long do I have till I’m clean again…???
i smoked everyday for 3 years, im 6’2″ and 155lbs, i smoked and passed a suprised drug test 5 days later
im a heavy smoker…prolly 3 times a day for the last 2 yrs…i need to b clean in 3 weeks, is it possible?…it will be with a Quick Screen Pro test…im 5’10” 155 lbs, lean(5% body fat)
Everyone is different, but based on this information I doubt you will be clean in three weeks since marijuana can stay in the urine for up to two months in cases of very frequent, prolonged use.
Yeah, I’m still nervous because 2 weeks ago (about),my roommate had friends over getting high while I was asleep. And when I woke up they were all high and stuff, then he said that they were doing it for about two hours before I woke up. So on the 27th of Febuary, I went in for a full time job for the Baltimore Orioles at a job fair they had and they hired me. They set me up for a drug screening; at first I wasn’t nervous because I have passed every drug screening in the past and background check because I don’t do drugs. But now I’m worried because my roommate smokes weed almost everyday, from that one time of me sleeping with weed smoke around me, would that show up in a urine screening?
Took one hit on feb 25th I have a drug test coming up in a week I. Weigh 180 I take niacin pills and drink a ton of water when I work out
I don’t get why everyone on here is asking questions, its like an open book test, all your answers are in the text!! Lol. But I can answer one of these questions, it doesn’t matter if you shave your head a thousand times. They take samples of your leg hair, they come in with a razor and some shaving cream, take a whole stinkin patch of hair and test it. They know ppl shave their hair on their head, so they take leg hair, especially with guys. I know a guy that thought he would get smart and shave his whole body, so they took a pubic hair lmao not a joke, it was at meps for millitary testing
i have been a heavy smoker for several years now im on probation. i haven’t smoked since feb. 27th but for the past three weeks my levels have been spiking.The only things i have done different is i started taking birth control and Motrin 800mg for about three weeks..I’m at a loss as to what can be causing my levels to go up!!!But it’s pretty serious cause the court doesn’t believe me of course so they put me in jail. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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thanks alot i have finally found the answer i am on a drug test and i just took one blunt how long is it suppose to stay, maybe two weeks
I smoked 2 weeks ago just one night, previously before that not for a few weeks. bout how long would it take if i am 5’11 145 pounds. small dude.
I just got done smoking a joint. What was the question again?
i have been smokin since i was a teen heavily everyday if i could. when i got oler got a job and my own place i smoked everyday all day and very potent stuff, ive been clean for over 3 months and still cant pass a urine screening. i work out alot everyday its frustrating but it just takes time, just depends on how much u have smoked in the past and how good the stuff was
Well i actually had to take a hair test for a job and i was sooo nervous because i smoked about 3 weeks ago. Personally i believe i passed it because i am not a heavy weed smoker. I smoked it like once in a blue moon. I am just very fortunate to pass the test. Good look to u man, i mean it.
I smoked weed for years everyday. It has been 6 months since i have smoked anything. Am i completely clean. I am wanting to have a little smoke with a friend i have not seen in years just one Joint. How long will it take to get of my system. Thank you in advance.
Many Thanks
T
im 16 years old and i go to comtrea (rehab) 3 days out of the week when i first started i smoked weed every hour of the day for a couple of years strait. i even smoked the day before i went in and got tested and i passed and mine get sent into a lab for the results it really depends on how active you are the more you sweat the faster it gets outta your system. also i drink a lot of tea which filters out the system because the sugar goes through your blood stream and cleans it out so if you want to pass a drug test just sweat your balls off and drink a lot of sweet tea and you should be fine.
The experts say that about the longest marijuana could stay detectible in your urine is 60 days. At six months you should be clean, but if you really want to know then test yourself before you smoke again.
I rarely used to do any pot (maybe about once every 2-4 weeks), but then I stopped for a while and I was wanting to celebrate once or twice with friends, however I’m going for a job at a minimum wage job. How long do you think I should wait to be COMPLETELY SAFE from any sort of detection?
So many people are asking, “how long til it’s out of my system?” There is such a huge variety of circumstances that will affect the outcome. Weight, metabolism, fat cells, diet, hydration, exercise, height, frequency of use, that nobody will be able to answer that for you. Use what you know to try and get an estimate for your unique situation and lifestyle.
Guys, if youre that nervous or curious about how long it stays in your system, go to Walgreens, buy the at home drug tests and test every week to figure it out yourself 🙂 Its 2012 people!! 🙂
the entire month of July i smoked on an almost daily basis. it was good weed and it was more than just a hit. i haven’t smoked in nearly two weeks now. yesterday, i took a urinalysis for a new job. i passed. don’t believe what the government and scientists tell you. they’re all liars. they tell you this to keep you scared and misinformed. the reason will marijuana will never be legalized boils down to MONEY. the government makes too much money from it being illegal. court costs and fines. also, the government is in bed with major pharmaceutical who doesn’t want a healthy, natural alternative to all of the medications they produce. it would take a huge chunk out of their yearly profits. America is blind and will follow and listen to whatever its government tells them. a bunch of sheep. stop listening to the media and wake up.
It doesn’t stay in ur system as long as u think I took one hit of hash on monday and tested for probation on wed and I was clean but I did stay up all nite drinkin water a lot of water and I took a bunch of cranberry pill s my pee looked like water but I passed
It only stays in ur system 1 to 3 days if only smoked one time and 3 to 7 days if ur a heavy smoker but everone is different it also depends on how much body fat u have. Hope this helps its a lot easyer to just stay clean so u dont have to stress about it.
I smoked only one puff 30 days back when my friends are taking it. I smoked weed altogether 5- 10 times all my life, but suddenly i have to appear to a drug test, will i test positive? Please advice me on what to do?
I smoke one time a week and five days later I test negative with the home test.I weigh 250 and drink beer daily,but I believe everyone is different.
Here is the technical help you need to read. This should answer all your questions. See CALIFORNIA NORML (no “a”) http://www.canorml.org/healthfacts/drugtestguide/drugtestdetection.html
Ive been clean for about 40 days and would consider myself a heavy user. Since ive stopped I have taken niacin pils (1000mg) daily for two weeks then have since been drinking a gallon of water a day.. and still i do not believe that i am free of THC in my urine. My advice to all is to STOP smoking;and to prepare for a dirty urine test if you have smoked within the last 45 days, but i could be wrong. i take a Government issued UA tmrw and im freaking out. ill let you all know how this goes.
Used 1/2 to 1 small bowl a day and have been testing positive for 77 days with No cheating! This after wasting 100 dollars on 7 day max guaranteed detox pills . I am large and heavy but come on??
Hi guys,
I was a smoker for the past 8 yrs, smoking about 3 to 4 blunts a day. I have now been sober for 31 days. I 6’2″, and weigh about 210lbs. I drink a shit load of water and have already lost about 25-30lbs. I’ve already lost my job due to being a pot head so that’s no longer a worry. I am however ready to get back to work and I’m wondering what my chances are for passing a drug test(urine) to be hired. If not now, how much longer do u think it’ll take without any kind of detox?
I have quit smoking for 45 days and still cant pass a home urine test. I am 6’and 320lbs,yeah lots of fat.I am 40 and have smoked heavy for 20 years. Have you ever herd of anybody taking longer than 60 days to come clean?
Take Sony 7(Benzonite Clay)…take one tablespoon, with a glass of water, for every 100 pounds you weigh everyday for 4 days before your drug test..dont smoke for those 4 days…YOU WILL PASS. Passed probation lab tests every 2 weeks, continued to smoke the whole time. This only works for urine tests though.
I’m Not really sure where some of these people have gotten their information but I can tell you I was a heavy smoker for 5+ years and then was put on probation for having a 1/2 gram!(yes a fucking 1/2g) Anyway I did not quit smoking until 2 weeks before my 1st scheduled test and I was able to clean myself out. I repeated this over the course of my 12 month probation (smoke 2 weeks multiple times daily detox 2 weeks) Detoxing is easy. Be sure to drink as much water as you can every day for me it was over a gallon a day and get some dandelion root extract pills from GNC. Take 4 pills a day drink your water and you will be fine. I have had several drug test for jobs and such since my probabtion and have repeated these results in as little as 6 days. Be sure to give yourself a enough time though. Its better to be safe then sorry. BTW I weigh 220lbs and am 6’3″. If I can do it so can anyone else. 🙂 Fuck the system and make your own rules!
Yes, we have heard that it is possible to take over 60 days if you were a long term heavy user. It would be great if you would let us know when you test negative, how many days did it take? thanks