While there are plenty of reasons that a person might want to detox from THC, the most common is when they’re being asked to take a drug test by their employer.
Most of the time, drug testing in the workplace is performed by urinalysis, which is also known as the common urine test.
When your body processes any type of substance, byproducts, called metabolites, are created.
When a person consumes marijuana, the level THC or tetrahydrocannabinol will immediately increase in their bloodstream. Then, as the THC is slowly filtered and cleansed for the bloodstream, THC metabolites are leftover as a byproduct of the process. THC is the molecule in marijuana, which is responsible for its psychoactive effects, essentially, making you feel “high”.
Once a person consumes marijuana, both THC and THC-COOH, which is the non-psychoactive metabolite in THC, will remain present in your body’s fat cells for differing lengths of time depending on a number of factors, including your metabolism rate.
Another method of flushing THC from your system is using permanent THC detox kits, which include both detox drinks, and detox pills, according to MedSignals. THC cleanse kits are multiple-day detox programs that will effectively prepare your system for a drug test.
How Long Will THC Remain Detectable?
For those who haven’t ever used marijuana before, or those who are very infrequent users, THC will typically remain detectable in their system for at least 1 to 2 days. However, for those who use marijuana every day, you can expect THC to remain detectable for much longer periods of time, sometimes up to as long as 4 to 8 weeks after stopping marijuana use. Generally speaking, THC metabolites have a half-life of 7 days. This means that every 7 days, a person’s THC levels will have decrease by 50%, assuming that the person has abstained for using marijuana within that period.
That said, a person will typically by free of THC metabolites after 3 to 4 weeks. However, this number will vary from person to person. This is mainly because THC is fat soluble and stored in a person’s fatty cell tissues. Subsequently, a person’s fat cells secrete THC metabolites at a steady rate.
This sometimes results in cleansing technique being ineffective since fat cells often continue to release THC metabolites into your system as time progresses.
Learn more about THC here.
How High Are My THC Levels?
This can be a difficult question to answer because there are a number of factors that will determine how high your THC and THC-COOH levels will be post-consumption. They include:
Your Total Body Fat Content
As you know by now, both THC and THC-COOH are fat soluble and are stored in a person’s fat cells. As a result of this, the more body fat a person has, the more metabolites will be stored in their cells, and the higher their THC levels will remain for longer than a person with less body fat.
Frequency of Consumption
To determine how high your THC levels are, you’ll also need to consider how much and how often you use marijuana. So essentially, you’ll need to consider whether you’ve used it daily, once or twice a week, or only once every couple of months.
The more that is consumed and the more often it is consumed, the more THC metabolites will have a chance to build up in the fatty cell tissues of the body.
Health and Metabolism Rate
In general, the healthier a person is, the faster their body will be able to cleanse itself of toxins. Also, healthier people tend to have less body fat, meaning that there’s nowhere for the THC metabolites to be stored to begin with.
However, every person will have a different metabolism rate, which will breakdown THC at different speeds.
So, if you’re trying to quickly detox from marijuana, getting a bit of exercise to boost your metabolism is highly recommended. This has the dual effect of causing you to sweat, which will also help cleanse your body of THC.
However, exercise has been known to cause THC levels to temporarily spike in our bloodstream. So, just make sure to avoid exercising on the day before, as well as the day of your drug test.
Type of Marijuana
One other factor that will determine your THC levels will be the type of marijuana that you’ve consumed. For example, do you smoke flower, or do you use THC oil and concentrates, which are significantly more potent and higher in THC? Did you buy edibles online with specific measurements, or do you ingest home-made and unknown amounts?
Read more about the different forms of marijuana here: https://www.verywellmind.com/types-of-marijuana-22323
Also, the quality of the product you consume will affect how much THC is actually released into your bloodstream.
Detox for a Drug Test for THC with Marijuana Detox Drinks
Most of the time, drug tests are performed at random. This means that if you’re asked to take a random drug test, you likely won’t have very much to detox and prepare yourself for the test.
The absolute most important thing you need to do is to stop using marijuana, in any shape or form, and abstain from using it until after you’ve taken your test. The more time you give your body to detox, the higher your chances will be passing. Consider as well that requiring a detox might mean you could have some type of dependence on marijuana.
There are many myths floating around on the internet that claim drinking substance such as vinegar, niacin, or cranberry juice will help flush THC from your system. However, there is very little evidence that any of these methods actually work.
Instead, one of your best bets is to use a detoxification drink to quickly cleanse your system and mask any remaining traces of THC. There are many such detox drinks, available either online or in stores, which can help rid your body of toxins in less than a week.
There products work by using natural herbs and supplements to quickly cleanse your system.
There are also some detoxification drinks that claim to be able to cleanse your system in as little as 24 hours. Essentially, these drinks will stimulate your urinary tract, causing you to need to urinate more often and at the same time, flushing THC metabolites from your body.
These products also have higher levels of vitamins and minerals, which help to disguise any remaining THC metabolites in your urine sample.