Synthetic Urine Use Increases In Australia

Sudden increase in altering the workplace drug test results with help of synthetic urine was recorded in Australia this year. According to experts it was caused by the latest drug dealers innovation, who now sell this product in a kit together with drugs.

Previously synthetic urine was detected in drug tests only once a month in the whole country, but in October, there were six cases only in Western Australia, as Safework Laboratories report. And these are only detected ones - since artificial urine is hardly recognizable, most of its uses stays unknown. This company had already detected such attempts to manipulate the drug test results in Pilbara before, but the latest cases were recorded in Perth, says Andrew Leibie, the Safework Laboratories marketing director and forensic toxicologist. He also noted that the synthetic urine is mostly used by the so-called 'fly-in-fly-out' workers, who claim that drug dealers and biker gangs from Karratha and Hedland offer this product with methamphetamine as a package deal. He also added that use of this substance is not limited to few cities - it is state-wide phenomenon, which includes different locations and many companies in different industries.


Some cheaters use extreme measures in order to pass a drug test, like attaching vessels with synthetic pee to their body with special belts to keep it within natural human body temperature range and even using fake penises in order to fool supervisors. And they succeed: while first sudden workplace drug test gives about 10% positive results, the following ones give less than 5%, since all drug users are already prepared and substitute their samples.

This lets many employees conceal their substance abuse and even work under the influence of drugs, what carries a risk for everybody around, in case the job is dangerous. For example, in South Australia the miner who worked with explosives was tested positive for several drugs right on workplace. He was under meth, cocaine, opiates and even alcohol and yet despite the fact that he could hardly stand on his feet, he insisted that everything was fine with him and wanted to go work.

Synthetic urine is legal to sell in Australia, but when detected in drug tests, it is usually treated like a positive result. However, its detection is not an easy task, since it looks, acts and sometimes even smells exactly like real human urine.