Expert: Hector Manuel Rodriguez - 11/23/2009

Question
Hello mr. Rodriguez, i was wondering if you might be able to give me some insight as to whether i might have passed or failed my pre employment medical. I did my medical about 10 days ago and i smoked a small amount of cannabis 12 days before my medical. My weight is 102 pounds and my BMI is about 18.7. I rarely smoke cannabis (about once every 3-4 months) and i still have not recieved my results and am quite worried. Please help  

Answer
The speed at which marijuana leaves your body depends both on the speed of your metabolism, as well as on the half life of THC. It’s estimated that THC can have a half life that ranges anywhere from 1-10 days. It’s almost impossible to find out what that half life is, which means that it is very difficult to use it to calculate how long it will take for all of the THC to leave your body.

For this reason, when you ask “How long does marijuana stay in your system?” you have to realize that it’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to get a usable answer. The most common period of time is anywhere from 3-30 days, depending on your metabolism and the amount of marijuana that you’ve smoked. This is unfortunate, since it means that while most drug tests can only turn up evidence of other drugs if you’ve been taking the drug within a few days of the drug test, marijuana could still be detected in a urine test up to a month after the last time it is used. If you smoke it occasionally it will remain in your system for up to 10 days. If you smoke marijuana on a regular basis it will stay in your system for as long as 45 days, and if you smoke marijuana at a constant pace, it can stay in the body for 90 days, Marijuana is fat soluble. It stores in the fat cells of the body, the brain, the liver, the kidneys, in other words the major organs.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Have a great day,

Hector Rodriguez