Ecstasy is clearly not just a drug used by teens. The high percentage of Ecstasy positives among job applicants, typically an older population than the teens tested through our PDT-90 home testing service, was also quite surprising. In releasing the first conclusive data on Ecstasy use in the population at large, Psychemedics is bringing these statistics to the attention of government, schools and, most importantly, parents, to reinforce their efforts in educating teenagers and young adults about the hazards of Ecstasy. The addition of Ecstasy to Psychemedics' hair testing was the first offered nationally and was initiated on July 17 of this year. In addition, four of the country's largest police departments, as well as five Federal Reserve Banks, use Psychemedics' drug testing services.
Hair testing has distinct advantages over the older, urine-based testing technology.
Urine testing can normally detect drug use for only three days after ingestion, while hair testing will detect drug use for the previous 90 days. Unlike urinalysis, simple short-term abstention will not beat the test. Drug detection rates for the Psychemedics hair test are up to 5-10 times greater than urine testing.