Ephedrine HCL banned at the job?

Hello all. I am unclear as to whether Ephedrine HCL sold at gas
stations for asthma/etc is banned at most companies for consumption? I
live in Florida and you can find a few gas stations that sell the stuff
over the counter. I'm wondering if most companies now have gone to
testing for Ephedrine HCL, along with the harder stuff? Do any of you
work for companies (other than the military) that have come out and
told you they test for Ephedrine HCL? Thanks for any feedback!

"Amp" <dontdamnme_79@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Hello all. I am unclear as to whether Ephedrine HCL sold at gas
>stations for asthma/etc is banned at most companies for consumption? I
>live in Florida and you can find a few gas stations that sell the stuff
>over the counter. I'm wondering if most companies now have gone to
>testing for Ephedrine HCL, along with the harder stuff? Do any of you
>work for companies (other than the military) that have come out and
>told you they test for Ephedrine HCL? Thanks for any feedback!

That's a question you should ask your company. If their policy says
no ephedrine, then don't use it. However, if they only ban the use of
illegal drugs, the standard ephedrine preparation [ephedrine
(12.5-25mg), guaifenesin (200-400mg)] is legal for OTC sales in
Florida*, and using it should not be a problem.

That said, I have heard that in preliminary drug screens (not gas
chromatograph mass spectrometry), ephedrine can give false positives
for amphetamine.


*Florida Statutes §499.033: http://tinyurl.com/yyjoep

JMW wrote:

> That's a question you should ask your company. If their policy says
> no ephedrine, then don't use it. However, if they only ban the use of
> illegal drugs, the standard ephedrine preparation [ephedrine
> (12.5-25mg), guaifenesin (200-400mg)] is legal for OTC sales in
> Florida*, and using it should not be a problem.
>
> That said, I have heard that in preliminary drug screens (not gas
> chromatograph mass spectrometry), ephedrine can give false positives
> for amphetamine.
>
>
> *Florida Statutes §499.033: http://tinyurl.com/yyjoep

Thanks. I work for a pretty large company. I can't imagine they would
have banned it and not informed us. Anyone can unknowingly walk into a
gas station and purchase ephedrine HCL, thinking it will help them get
through a bout with the flu. I was just curious if any others here
have been told not to take it? BTW, nice find on the statutes. From
what I'm reading, its a legal OTC substance. As for the false
positives: most larger companies would do a second, more intensive
test, before concluding its a true positive. These more intensive
tests screen out ephedrine.

In article <1168053149.414993.77520@i15g2000cwa.googlegroups. com>,
"Amp" <dontdamnme_79@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hello all. I am unclear as to whether Ephedrine HCL sold at gas
> stations for asthma/etc is banned at most companies for consumption? I
> live in Florida and you can find a few gas stations that sell the stuff
> over the counter. I'm wondering if most companies now have gone to
> testing for Ephedrine HCL, along with the harder stuff? Do any of you
> work for companies (other than the military) that have come out and
> told you they test for Ephedrine HCL? Thanks for any feedback!

I don't...

but I know for a fact that some of the Ephedra (not the pure HCL) herbal
preparations cross-react with some amphetamine tests.

The kit we use at work does that. The company finally sent out a warning
making it "official".
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

In article <jm5up295k68kats1p59momijsknqqd8d7o@4ax.com>,
JMW <jmwilliams@enforcergraphics.f2s.com> wrote:

> "Amp" <dontdamnme_79@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >Hello all. I am unclear as to whether Ephedrine HCL sold at gas
> >stations for asthma/etc is banned at most companies for consumption? I
> >live in Florida and you can find a few gas stations that sell the stuff
> >over the counter. I'm wondering if most companies now have gone to
> >testing for Ephedrine HCL, along with the harder stuff? Do any of you
> >work for companies (other than the military) that have come out and
> >told you they test for Ephedrine HCL? Thanks for any feedback!
>
> That's a question you should ask your company. If their policy says
> no ephedrine, then don't use it. However, if they only ban the use of
> illegal drugs, the standard ephedrine preparation [ephedrine
> (12.5-25mg), guaifenesin (200-400mg)] is legal for OTC sales in
> Florida*, and using it should not be a problem.
>
> That said, I have heard that in preliminary drug screens (not gas
> chromatograph mass spectrometry), ephedrine can give false positives
> for amphetamine.
>

Yes.

One of my co-workers and I experimented with that. The herbal ephedra
caps did, but the mini-thin preparations did not... but that's just on
our kit.

We use "Triage" screens.

Here is the product used by our lab:

http://www.biosite.com/products/doa.aspx

I did get tapped a couple of times for random drug screens at work when
I was taking the herbal prep that _would_ give a positive for
Amphetamines on our screen, (Pam and I proved it to ourselves) so I
filled out the OTC med line on the form.

The company we send employee screens to uses gas chromatography.

My screens came back negative.

So I still have my job. ;-)
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

"Amp" <dontdamnme_79@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1168053149.414993.77520@i15g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello all. I am unclear as to whether Ephedrine HCL sold at gas
> stations for asthma/etc is banned at most companies for consumption? I
> live in Florida and you can find a few gas stations that sell the stuff
> over the counter. I'm wondering if most companies now have gone to
> testing for Ephedrine HCL, along with the harder stuff? Do any of you
> work for companies (other than the military) that have come out and
> told you they test for Ephedrine HCL? Thanks for any feedback!

I believe ephedrine use is encouraged at Yoyodyne.

Amp wrote:
> JMW wrote:
>
> > That's a question you should ask your company. If their policy says
> > no ephedrine, then don't use it. However, if they only ban the use of
> > illegal drugs, the standard ephedrine preparation [ephedrine
> > (12.5-25mg), guaifenesin (200-400mg)] is legal for OTC sales in
> > Florida*, and using it should not be a problem.
> >
> > That said, I have heard that in preliminary drug screens (not gas
> > chromatograph mass spectrometry), ephedrine can give false positives
> > for amphetamine.
> >
> >
> > *Florida Statutes §499.033: http://tinyurl.com/yyjoep
>
> Thanks. I work for a pretty large company. I can't imagine they would
> have banned it and not informed us. Anyone can unknowingly walk into a
> gas station and purchase ephedrine HCL, thinking it will help them get
> through a bout with the flu. I was just curious if any others here
> have been told not to take it? BTW, nice find on the statutes. From
> what I'm reading, its a legal OTC substance. As for the false
> positives: most larger companies would do a second, more intensive
> test, before concluding its a true positive. These more intensive
> tests screen out ephedrine.

List "Bronk-Aid" on your drug list.

You use it for allergies.

It works.

Or perhaps Schute is raping your poodle.....one never knows on UUnet.