Drug abuse as always continues to threaten the health and safety of millions of people. There is a growing awareness and concerned about the consequences of drug abuse among different sections of people such as employees, students, youth, athletes and patients. The drug abuse ranges form chain smoking to abusing cocaine and heroin.

According to southwestcouncil.org, the top ten common and dangerous drugs of abuse are Tobacco, Alcohol, Marijuana, Prescription drugs, Methamphetamine, Ecstasy, Cocaine, Heroin, Inhalants and Steroids. These drugs can be detected using urine, hair or saliva samples. The below is the brief description of the drugs abused and their testing methods.

Tobacco:
Tobacco is one of the heavily abused addictive drugs in America. Nearly, 70.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current users of tobacco products in 2008. Tobacco abuse can be detected in 2 to 4 days in urine using Cotinine test that has simple one-step procedure.

Alcohol:
Alcohol is a widely abused drug. According to NSDUH 2008, more than half (51.6%) of the Americans aged 12 or older abused alcohol at least once in 2008. Alcohol abusers can be detected using alcohol breathalyzers, which use a breath sample.

Marijuana:
Marijuana is the commonly used illicit drug of abuse. There were 15.2 million abusers aged 12 or above in 2008. Marijuana abusers can be detected between 3 to 5 days using urine tests such as Marijuana Test.

Prescription drugs:
There were nearly 6.2 million people aged 12 or older who abused prescription drug non-medically in 2008. Commonly abused prescription drugs include opioids such as oxycodone, barbiturates, and stimulants like methylphenidate. Most people abuse drugs that are prescribed to their family members. Urine drug tests are preferred to detect these drugs, as they are inexpensive and provide quick results.

Methamphetamine:
Methamphetamine is highly addictive stimulant with toxic effects on the central nervous system. NSDUH states that there were 314,000 Methamphetamine abusers in 2008. Methamphetamine can be detected in urine for 3 to 5 days of the abuse.

Ecstasy:
Ecstasy (MDMA) is a drug of abuse with stimulant and psychodelic properties. There were nearly 555,000 ecstasy abusers in 2008. Ecstasy can be detected in urine using MDMA Ecstasy drug test for up to 24 hours.

Cocaine:
Cocaine is highly addictive stimulant drug of abuse. NSDUH states that there were 722,000 persons aged 12 years or above in 2008, who used cocaine for the first time in the past year averaging approximately 2,000 initiates per day. Cocaine can be detected in urine using cocaine test for about 2 to 5 days.

Heroin:
Heroin is an addictive opiate drug, synthesized from morphine. In 2008, there were 114,000 persons aged 12 years or above who had used heroin for the first time within the past one year. Urine tests are preferred to detect heroin abuse within 3 to 4 days.
Inhalants:
Inhalants such as volatile solvents, gases, aerosols, and nitrites are breathable chemical vapors, inhaled intentionally to get mind-altering effects.

Steroids:
Athletes mostly use steroids to enhance performance and physical appearance. Steroid abuse can lead to serious health problems.

The above statistics and information show that these drugs of abuse are widespread. Therefore, one must be aware of the rise and spread of drug abuse. Drug abuse can be reduced and deterred by using reliable drug testing methods. One can choose from different kinds of drug tests available such as urine, hair, blood or oral fluid tests based on the convenience to detect the elevated levels of the substance abused.