Hair Drug Testing Routine in Many Clinical and Forensic Applications

The document discussed the use of hair testing for detecting drug use, highlighting its advantages over blood and urine testing due to its ability to provide a longer record of drug exposure. Hair testing was particularly useful for identifying chronic drug use over months, as hair grows at a consistent rate of approximately 1 cm per month. The document noted that hair testing had been widely accepted in clinical and forensic applications, including legal cases and employment screenings. It also addressed potential issues such as the impact of hair treatments and environmental contamination, emphasizing the importance of washing hair samples to remove external drug traces. Concerns about racial or ethnic bias due to melanin's affinity for certain drugs were mentioned, but larger studies had not shown significant biases. The document concluded that while some scientific questions remained, hair testing continued to advance the understanding of drug abuse and forensic investigations.