Urine 

THC can be identifiable in urine for up to several weeks after use. The specifics of how long will depend dramatically on the dose.

• One off cannabis use will mean that THC is evident in your urine for about 5-8 days. 
• Using cannabis 3-4 days a week will mean that THC could be detectable in your urine for 10-18 days after.
• More regular consumption to the tune of 6 days a week can mean that you would show evidence of THC for up to 40 days from the point of consumption.

Daily, heavy use cannabis consumption could be even longer at around 50-60 days.

The urine test is probably the most common way of testing for THC. It is a fast and cheap test that is simple to perform. The test can check for both illegal and prescription drugs once the doctor or technician has analysed it. The test will return results within a few days but can be as fast as the same day in some cases. 

Broadly speaking a negative result will come back faster than a positive one. The reason for this is that a positive test often needs further analysis. Normally a second test is required for confirmation if the results were positive. The second test will usually be a GC-MS test (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). Test results will be delivered and explained by the person who carried out the test.

Hair

The hair test is more expensive than the urine test and is used to detect substances that have been in the body for longer periods of time. There is a requirement to use a piece of hair that is 1.5 inches long at a minimum. Given that your hair grows at 0.5 inches a month this sample size may contain evidence of drug use from up to 3 months ago. 

The hair test is seen as the most accurate test when it comes to looking for evidence of THC in the human body.

Blood

Broadly speaking THC does not spend long in the bloodstream as it is metabolised very quickly by humans. You can expect it to last somewhere between a few hours and two days. 

If you are a heavy user you may find that it is present in the blood for 5-7 days. The THC blood test is mainly used as an extra step or follow up to an initial test that had shown a false positive – this is where a test detected the presence of a substance when a person has not actually taken the substance. 

The blood test is the most expensive form of testing and also the most intrusive. It is the most accurate form of test when looking for evidence of drugs but only when performed in a specific window of time. It also requires specialised equipment to deliver the test. 

Saliva

Normally THC is evident in saliva for one or two days and will show up on a test after an hour of consumption. The saliva test is often used as a means to identify consumption in drivers although there is a question about how accurate they are overall. 

The saliva test is the most common and non-intrusive form of testing when it comes to cannabis and THC in humans. It is simple to administer, normally an oral mouth swab but may still require lab equipment to process. 

There is no one size fits all in terms of understanding how cannabis moves through the body but let’s look at some of the parameters.

That said there are other factors that are important to consider, let’s look at some of them now

1. Exercise – Getting your blood pumping through some high intensity exercise will provide a massive boost when getting THC out of your body. The simple mechanics behind this are that you are sweating out fluids and by proxy the THC byproducts that exist within the bloodstream. One thing worth noting is that training hard hours before a drugs test will have the opposite effect as the concentration of THC in your bloodstream will increase as the fat cells will release any stored up THC.

2. Body Fat  – Body fat plays a big role in how long THC stays in the body. THC is stored in fat cells and people with a higher body fat percentage are more likely to metabolise THC at slower speeds than those with a low body fat percentage.

3. Eating habits – Food is a big part of how your body processes THC as it is linked to your metabolism. There are many different food types that can speed up your metabolism such as coffee, spicy food (hot sauce anyone) and others. There is also a body of evidence that suggests smaller meals more frequently may also help with speeding up your metabolism so it’s worth considering how you eat, when you eat as well as what you are eating. 

4. Potency of cannabis –  It goes without saying that the strength of the cannabis will play a major part in how long the evidence of consumption will stay in your body. A higher strength strain with more THC in it  will remain in your system longer than if you used a lower strength strain or variety. 

5. Frequency – As stated earlier the level of cannabis consumer you are will indicate how long THC will stay in your system. The more often you consume THC, the more byproducts will be evident in your body. THC consumption is cumulative so you are storing it up in your body through regular use be that in fat cells or otherwise.

There are increasing amounts of pro athletes speaking out about their use of cannabis to manage pain and the other ancillary effects of playing elite level sports. The numbers of active players using cannabis can be significant. In this report up to 85% of NBA and 89% of the NFL players are using cannabis on a weekly basis. Closer to home many UK based rugby stars are turning to cannabis based medicinal products and even starting their own businesses around the plant.

A major part of why these players are using cannabis are for its natural therapeutic properties such as helping with inflammation, chronic pain, anxiety and other conditions. This is as opposed to using opioids and the wide range of negative side effects they bring.

So can we expect to see cannabis come off the NBA banned substances list? Not right now but it might not be too far away as Adam Silver the NBA commissioner states “Cannabis is currently on our banned substances list. We are however, keen to learn more about the safety and efficacy of medicinal cannabis”.

This would be a significant breakthrough and ahead of that CBD could be allowed in the NBA sooner. Which brings us to our final question…