Benzos and drug tests

[raven3davis]

Well there are a lot of different sources that give out different dates etc for benzo detection time. Erowid only gives the detection times for Diazepam (valium) and Flunitrazepam (rohypnol). Eworid states that the dectection time for valium single use is 7-10 days and for rohypnol it is 2-4 days. Well valium is a longer acting benzo than rohypnol so this might account for the difference but one might wonder what the detection time for alprazolam (xanax) is. Well there arent any sites that give very accurate information on this.


http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/bzd.html


That site gives a comprehensive chart that compares the half lives of various benzos.


If you look at the chart it says that the half life of valium is a long half life, it quotes it at 30-200 hours. Also if you check the half life of rohypnol, it had a medium-long half life which falls between 12 and 40 hours. Alprazolam has a short halflife which it says is 9-20 hours.


So lets try to make some conclusions with the information given. Valium is detected in the urine for 7-10 days, rohypnol only 2-4 days. Valium has a much longer halflife than rohypnol which might account for the big gap. So where does Xanax fall??? Not really sure but if Xanax has a shorter halflife than rohypnol could you assume that it is detected in the urine for a shorter amount of time? Everyone interested in this topic should check out the chart. It seems that valium has one of the highest half lives out of any benzodiazepine. Many charts say that benzos can be detected anywhere from 1-42 days. 42 days must be someone taking a long acting benzo that is a chronic user and not very active.


Here is another chart with the half lives of various benzos.
http://www.mja.com.au/public/mentalh...cles/norman/no rbox2.html
Notice the differences in the numbers, they are quite large. This chart says the half life of dizepam (valium) is 20-90 hours. It is classified under "long elimination half-life). Alprazolam (xanax) is classified under "intermediate elimination half-life" and it gives the numbers 6-20 hours. Finally, Flunitrazepam (rohypnol) is also under the "intermediate elimination half-life" benzos and it's half life is 20-30 hours.


So if you take all the information from the web and from these charts you can come up with the following statment, which SWIM cannot determine the accuracy of. The half-life of Valium (Dizepam)is longer than the half-life of rohypnol (Flunitrazepam), which is longer than the half-life of xanax (alprazolam). Erowid says valium is detected in the urine for 7-10 days and that rohypnol is detected 2-4 days. Can one assume that xanax would be 2-4 days, maybe less?

Since benzos are stored in fat cells it is probably all dependent on how your body is. The amount of fat in your body, your metabolism, your fluid intake and also your activity. Some benzos have a much longer half life than others, and it seems that Dizepam (valium) has one of the longest half lifes of any benzo which probably accounts for the long detection time in urine. Also, valium is a much weaker benzo thus the daily doses much higher. It would not be uncommon for someone to take 80 mg of valium a day but 80mg xanax a day is getting a bit on the EXTREME side.


SWIM has came up with this information via the web from many different sites after searching quite a bit. Hope this information will help some of you. SWIM has a few questions though. Does anyone have experience with xanax and drug tests. SWIM took a test the other day and took a 2mg bar of xanax 9 days before. SWIM was working every day being pretty active so hopefully it does not show up. There are so many different sources on the web with different quotes on half life and detection time it is hard to get reliable information. Erowid comes up a big short in the drug testing department when it comes to benzos. If SWIM is reasoning properly his assumptions about the halflives and detection times should be half-accurate . If anyone has experience with benzos and detection time please share your experiences. SWIM just wants to know if 2mg of xanax will show up 9 days after use. If the detection time for valium is 7-10 days and xanax has a much shorter half life then SWIM should be fine.

Here is another chart for anyone interested
http://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm
Again this chart shows a much higer halflife for valium (20-100 hours) an a shorter half life for xanax (6-12 hours) so SWIM is proposing that the detection time of xanax is about the same as with rohypnol, maybe even shorter. Remember though everyone is different and everyone's body works differently. Anyone with any information about benzos and drug tests please post there. There is a lot of good information here SWIM just wanted others to be able to quickly view this information and try to help others and maybe us SWIMs can come to a conclusion about all this!

Reputation Comments on this post:

good research

[raven3davis]

Muriner posted this link in a thread from a while ago SWIM dug it up and though it might be relevant to this new post.


http://www.druginfonet.com/index.php...q/new/DRUG_FAQ /Valium.htm


Some 50 year old obese man tested positive for valium several months after use. He also says he occasinally used xanax and that he tested negative for xanax. It seems like valium and other benzos are stores in the fat cells so a 50 year old obese man might have a difficult time getting it out of his system. This story is on the EXTREME side. This guy did test negative for xanax though which supports the theory that xanax has a shorter detection time. This guy was taking lots of 10mg valium and tested positive after months of use.

[Jatelka]

Someother thingsto think about re benzo testing (although SWIM is unable to help out with the more practical side)


Maximal concentrations and half life of Xanax are 15 -25% higher in Asians compared to Caucasians. SWIM could find no other info on other racial groups or other benzos, but SWIM has only done a quick search.


If you are on liver enzyme inducers (lot's of anti-epileptics/mood stabilisers, barbiturates, certain antibiotics, certain oral diabetes drugs to name a few) then hepatically excreted benzodiazepines theoretically could clear quicker than stated above (not something SWIM will be testing on herself).


Conversely with liver enzyme inhibitors (anti-retrovirals for HIV, cetain antibiotics and antifungals, gastrointestinal promotility drugs) then clearance could take much longer.


Any clearance is, as Raven3 points out dependant on half-life, and fat solubility also comes into it. Water soluble benzos include: Midazolam, Flurazepam, Lorazepam, Oxazepam and flunitrazepam (Or Verbed, Dalmane, Ativan, Serax and Rohypnol if you want to go for trade names). Obviously if you have higher propertions of body fat then clearance will take longer (ie: if you are obese or a woman).


SWIM will try to dig up some more stuff on the racial differences in half-life when she has time.

[ValiumSoup]

Do they all just show up as benzos or can they root out exactly what kind of benzo?

-VS

[Sklander]

SWIM knows SWIRaven and knows that SWIRaven tested NEGATIVE for any substances after taking the 2MG ALPRAZOLAM (Xanax, Bar, etc.).

SWIM thinks that ALPRAZOLAM can be detected up to four days after ingestion probably for an individual with an average metabolism and a reasonable BODY FAT INDEX.

DRINK WATER!

[raven3davis]

Yea SWIM tested negative and he was hella glad, althought he got terminated after three weeks of working! Once you test positive for benzos they determine which benzo is in your system. If you have a prescription then it is all good but otherwise you will fail the test and suffer the consequences. SWIM has been told by most people that xanax will stay in your system for like 3 days.

[Jeff Woad]

Wow! Only three days for xanax!? It sucks that we don't have alprazolam in the UK, (by this I mean prescribed by normal doctors.) I don't know why not either, it's one of my favourite benzos. I'm pretty sure we don't have flunitrazipam either... Come on UK! Make with some fun benzos!

I've tested positive for benzos about two weeks after taking diazepam!

[raven3davis]

Wow that is a while. It seems the average with diazepam is aroun a week so maybe you have a slow metabolism. For you aplrazolam might show up for about 5 days. It really depends on your body nd how frequently you used the benzo. Some have even reported testing positive after 6 weeks with diazepam!

[Politicalchalk]

Just wanted to post about Valium (diazepam) --- in itself, the half life is much shorter....however, it's metabollite (nordiazepam or something like that) has a half life of 200 hours. So while it might not be Valium they are specifically looking for on a tox screen, the valium metabolite might very well show up. Also, that man's weight and/or other medical conditions/meds could have greatly affected what his liver did ever day, as others pointed out. I have heard of post-mortem (dead people) first finding "benzodiazepine"...only to later find the true chemical substance. but that was TV, who knows if it's true. Hope this helped.

[Sklander]

Diazepam can be detected via urine drug test for a very very long time.

SWIbuffalo is probably right that it is just the metabolite that stays in the system, but recreational users should know that Diazepam (Valium) can stay in the body for up to three weeks with prolonged use.

BE CAREFUL WITH THIS DRUG, IT WILL MAKE SWIY FAIL A DRUG TEST.

[moda00]

The OP is old, but the second of the three links is not working.. That said, I checked the other two charts and browsed some other resources, and there are huge discrepencies. Another one I noted was clonazepam.. ranging anywhere from 12-300 hours on various sites and charts.. Also one indicates that clonazepam has a long (out of short, medium, or long) halflife, whereas chlordiazepoxide has a medium to long halflife.. but then many other charts list chlordiazepoxide as having much longer half lives than clonazepam.

Also, as far as the nordiazepam- that is important to know- thanks for pointing it out. Swim wonders if perhaps other benzos have different metabolites from the drug itself, and whether that could be at the root of some of the confusion and variation among the data. Swim thinks this would be an important thing to list when making such a chart- whether the data applies to only the initial chemical compound, or whether it applies to other metabolites. Also would be nice to have a chart of benzos and their corresponding metabolites, as well as what is usually tested for as an indicator of that particular drug- wouldn't want to take a chance on a drug test without knowing that info. I'll try to dig it up, or if anyone else has such a chart please do share!!

[Sklander]

No chart here, but the large range of detection time is because of the biology of how benzo's are metabolised, in that, they are stored in fat cells, much like THC. Because a person's fat content can vary greatly from person to person so can the detection time of Benzo's.

[sirbubba]

I know ya'll hate it when a old thread is bumped from the grave, but swim has a drug test coming up on the 17th of March for state probation, and is concerned about testing positive for benzos (alprazolam to be specific). Swim was taking an average of 4 mg roughly 4 or 5 days a week. The last time swim consumed any xanax was the 21st of February, but have a job interview tomorrow and it would really help swim if alprazolam could be taken prior to the interview for anxiety (just 2 mg, not 4). Swim is 130 lbs and 5'10 with a fast metabolism and started running about a mile a day last Saturday. Swim is curious whether he is safe to take a bar tomorrow before the job interview at 10 AM.

I have done some research and found that since xanax is a shorter acting benzo, it should have a shorter detection period, but would like some more input regarding swim's specific situation and I realize that this topic has come up but deal with slightly different scenarios. I thought it would be best to bump this thread since I found it very helpful rather than start a new one. Please do not flame me for asking this question or bumping an old thread. I have been a lurker on this forum on and off for a year or so, but have not had the need to post as I typically have no trouble finding the info I need. Since this is regarding swim's probation there was more concern regarding this topic. I also realize everyone is different concerning the elimination of drugs from their system so I thought it would be best if I posted swim's information to get the most accurate answer possible.

thanks for any help

[neborecovery]

Sorry too late, but if you are interested contact me.

Everyone keeps posting about half-lives and that is fine to know. But, only part of it. It depends on what type of drug test: immunoassay dip or GC/MS. Also it depends on how much consumed. For example, most immunoassay dips will test negative for benzos if someone is on less than 5mg daily of Clonazepam. Another little factoid, they do not always reliably detect Alprazolam (Xanax) but depends on the dose. Dips are mainly looking for Oxazepam metabolites (primary, like from Serax or secondary from Valium and a host of other benzos). Clonazepam is metabolized to 7-aminoclonazepam and not oxazepam.

GC/MS testing depends on actual cut-offs, and you would usually be screwed.