Alcohol, cannabis, hard drugs… Their consumption leaves traces in the body. But how long, more precisely?
- Drugs and alcohol leave traces in the body.
- Their duration of detection, in blood, urine or hair, is variable.
As soon as a person uses drugs or alcohol, their body begins to break them down. In the process, a compound from his metabolism leaves traces in his blood, urine and hair. Sometimes several days after consuming the product. However, the duration of detectable presence in the body depends on the nature of the product consumed.
The alcohol
The only legal substance on this list, alcohol, can cause serious health problems if consumed in excess and regularly. It also takes a long time to be digested by the body: it takes about half an hour for the liver to start the process of decomposition after drinking a standard glass of alcohol (12 cl for wine, 25 cl for beer ). Alcohol is present for 10 to 12 hours in the blood, and 3 to 5 days in the urine.
Cannabis
Cannabis is the drug that spends the most time in our body. If we are not all equal in the face of cannabis useTHC – the psychoactive substance in cannabis that causes the high – stays in the blood for 1-3 weeks, and in the urine for 7-30 days.
cocaine
Although it is harmful to health, cocaine remains much shorter in our body than cannabis. Indeed, usually consumed by inhalation or injection, cocaine is found in our blood for 1 to 2 days, and in our urine for 3 to 4 days.
the heroine
Heroin is a drug belonging to the opiate family and, like cocaine, is consumed by injection or inhalation. It is only found for about 12 hours in the blood and 3 to 4 days in the urine. Be careful, heroin has a very powerful addictive power. If it disappears from the body relatively “quickly”, the body quickly becomes dependent on it, after a few doses on average. A single dose is enough to make some people dependent.
LSD
This very powerful hallucinogenic drug, consumed by ingestion, is the one that disappears most quickly from the body. Traces of LSD in the blood do dissipate after 2-3 hours, in the urine after 1-2 days, and take 3 days to disappear from the hair.
Ecstasy
Ecstasy is a synthetic drug derived from the MDMA molecule and is taken orally in pill form. After ingestion, its presence in the blood can be detected for 2-3 hours, in the urine – 3-4 days.
In summary, it takes time for these substances to be “purged” by the body. Metabolites are valuable for drug testing, because with them it can be determined exactly whether a person has consumed mind-altering substances or not. Capillary (hair) tests are very accurate, as most drugs (except LSD) leave traces for about 90 days.
To find out more about the consequences of drugs or if you have an addiction, you can click here or call the Drug Information Service on 0 800 23 13 13 between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m.
