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Teatime of Soul · Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 905

Just had the third teacher arrive at our school with his medical exam completed abroad (using the required form on Chinese websites).

The only medical procedure they performed after his arrival in country was an x-ray.

In our city, either they do not test everybody for drugs, or they are using an x-ray to perform this drug testing.

If the Chinese were concerned about drug use, it would be simple enough to add it as another test to be performed when completing the medical exam abroad. No reason for a secret, undocumented test.

What stops a teacher being "deported" for failing a drug screen in Harbin, from getting off the plane in Beijing with his new medical exam (absent any secret test results and no references to them on the "exam results" and presenting it as proof of good health to a new employer?

Something here doesn't align with the bureaucratic, procedural mentality and international reciprocity one expects to find in such standard procedures.

Anything can happen, but it sure seems, in my layman's eyes, needlessly roundabout, secretive, ineffectual, undocumented, and open to challenges on a number of scientific, diplomatic, and medical fronts.

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:07 am Post subject: Drug Tests

So, has anything changed?

Can a teacher smoke a spliff, hop on the plane and pass the med check in China no prob?

Or will they face a firing squad?

U99A · Joined: 12 Jan 2013 Posts: 64 Location: P.R.C

I am certain my colleagues were NOT tested for drugs of any kind. China seems to be overly concerned with AIDS and STD's though.

Many of us are paranoid and will often type what we think should happen but in reality here in the PRC, it is case by case- depends on the city you want to work in etc........but I really would not worry about any drug testing.

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 2:58 pm Post subject:

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 2:58 pm Post subject:

Shanghai Noon · Joined: 18 Aug 2013 Posts: 589 Location: Shanghai, China

Drug testing requires a urine test. Drug metabolites do not remain in the blood stream for long enough. If they did a blood test, you could just abstain for a couple of days and pass. Sure, they could test your blood for drug metabolites if they wanted to, but it would only catch the most chronic or unlucky users. However, your body takes days to weeks to excrete drug metabolites through urine and other channels, so a urine test can more accurately determine if someone uses drugs. I have had the exam done twice in Shanghai and there was no urine test either time. As for STDs, the only ones they tested for were Syphilis, which is totally benign if it is caught in time, and HIV. They also tested for Hepatitis C. Perhaps if I tested positive for Hepatitis C, they would have called me in for a drug test.

mw182006 · Joined: 10 Dec 2012 Posts: 310

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:22 am Post subject:

Any more updates???

NoBillyNO · Joined: 11 Jun 2012 Posts: 1762

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

"...If they did a blood test, you could just abstain for a couple of days and pass. Sure, they could test your blood for drug metabolites if they wanted to..."

My understanding of drug metabolites in the blood can be misleading, and don't necessarily indicate illicit drug use. If metabolites were considered, conceivable, any cold remedy containing ephedrine could leave metabolites pointing to meth use.

** I am not a chemist, a phlebotomist, a doctor, or an illicit drug user, so take what I say with a grain of msg. I'm going for a flu shot before i leave. I'll ask the doctor about it.

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:23 pm Post subject:

Keep the ball rollin' Cool

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

After having conducted an extensive one-page Wikipedia research on the matter, I've concluded that I don't think I've ever been tested for drugs in China. I say this not because I'm a drug user and haven't been caught but because my experience with Chinese health checks is that they don't spend a lot of time on anything. The Wikipedia articles on drug testing indicate that testing is pretty time-consuming if done one way (specialized lab), and too expensive if done another way (instant checks). Plus, there's no one test that will check for different families of drugs. The Wikipedia article cites the urine test as "the Gold Standard" for drug tests.

As I said before, I usually start take a benzodiazepine on the plane and continue it for two weeks to get over jet lag. Nobody's ever said anything about it. I have noticed, though, that the machinery and personnel seem to have become more and more sophisticated through the years. The last time i went for an exam in China, everyone was given a test tube the size of a thimble to pee in. There were a LOT of people being tested, and the women were especially surprised by this. (I think that the small specimen collection container just made it easier for the med techs to throw it away). Worse, when we presented our specimens, the gloved nurses seemed not to be labeling any of the thimbles or even doing any sort of accounting of whose donation was whose.

The blood donations , the EKGs and the X-rays were a different story. My recollection was that the Americans and the Japanese FTs from our school were handled separately from the other (presumably migrant) workers. We were the only ones in that area of the clinic. Apparently, tests were made for the blood work. One FT was notified a week later that he had one form of hepatitis and was required to pay for and take the medicine and go for a re-test. He didn't take the medicine, but he went for a re-test and passed.

Anyway, for those who can access it, here is the URL for Wikipedia. Now you can become an expert too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_test