Nail drug testing identifies the possible facts of long usage of some psychoactive substances.
The total nail growth takes about 170-180 days, fingernails growth – about 130 days. The concentration of psychoactive substances in the nails is higher or equal to drug concentration in the hair. Therefore, taking into account, that nails grow by 0,1 mm for 24 hours, testing the slice of a nail plate can give us the information about drugs and psychoactive substances, used in the distant past. The nail plates, cut for drug testing, can inform of drug abuse, which could have place 5-6 months ago. The chronology of narcotization (that is the intensity of taking drugs in various periods of time) can be received by testing the whole nail plate, but this procedure can’t be done in many cases. As a rule, such biological material can be taken from a dead body, and it gives the opportunity to define, whether the dead were a drug addict or not.
The drug nail testing let us know about regular narcotization, which has continued for a long period of time. Additional urine, saliva and blood tests allow to judge of drug usage at present.
