Expert: Crystal - 4/6/2008

Question
i am 29 years old, caucasian, 6'2, 200 lbs...very inactive and was a habitual
smoker of marijuana, approx. 5-9 grams a day, every day for the past ten
years..i quit smoking about 40 days ago, and am being drug tested, by my
recruiter in order to enlist into the army..my problem is that i'm still coming
up positive...could there be any other reason for this? i have not smoked
since i quit, and have been drinking 5 liters of water every day, i started off
working out very heavily(cardio), but had been told that may be keeping the
metabolites in my system, so for two weeks i've been generally inactive..any
and all help would be appreciated, since the web has tons of contradicting
info. if you can't answer my question, could you possibly refer it to someone
who can? thanks

Answer
James,

When you smoke that amount and consistently it does take a while to get out of your system and the only way to know the difference is to be tested by a lab that comes back with the nanograms in your urine. When we test an individual who has been previously positive we test for the nanogram because it tells us if they have reused since the nanograms go down as the system gets clean. You are probably looking at another 30 days at the least, maybe more. There is no other reason why you would test positive unless it is in your system still, it takes time to completely flush.
Hope that helps.