5 Panel Drug Test Cups & Dip Cards

What a 5-panel test covers

The standard five is amphetamine, cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine (PCP) and THC — the SAMHSA-5, and the configuration most workplace and clinical protocols name by default. Our alternate five swaps PCP for methamphetamine, which matters where methamphetamine is the local concern rather than PCP.

What does a 5 panel drug test include?

Most people asking what a 5 panel test includes want the list of drugs. The standard five is amphetamine, cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine (PCP) and THC. The alternate five swaps PCP for methamphetamine. Each product on this page prints its own chart, so check the chart rather than the name.

The SAFElife 5-panel cups we stock screen AMP, COC, mAMP, OPI and THC. Their cutoffs, per the SAFElife data sheet, are amphetamine 1000/500 ng/mL, cocaine 300/150 ng/mL, methamphetamine 1000/500 ng/mL, opiates 2000 ng/mL and THC 50 ng/mL.

A result shows as lines. Two lines, control and test, mean negative for that drug, even if the test line is faint. A control line alone means a preliminary positive. No control line means the test is invalid. A preliminary positive is confirmed at a lab before it counts.

Which format to choose

All eight are the same chemistry. The integrated cup is the fewest steps for the person administering it; the dip card is the lowest cost per test and the easiest to store in volume. If you screen at a desk rather than a collection station, the cup is usually worth the difference.

Regulatory status

Every five-panel configuration on this page is CLIA-waived, so it can be used for clinical decisions in a CLIA-waived setting. That is not true at every panel count — higher panels often include analytes that are Forensic Use Only.

Ordering

Cups are sold by the box of 25 tests. Dip cards are sold by the box of 25 cards.

Who orders five-panel screens

The five-panel is the configuration most written policies name when they do not name anything more specific. It is where a new program usually starts, what a workplace testing clause tends to assume, and what most sites reorder without revisiting. The buyer is normally a purchasing lead or a program administrator working to that policy rather than a clinician choosing a test, and the practical effect is that the same item gets bought on a schedule.

It turns up in pre-employment and workplace programs, in probation and diversion programs, in treatment and recovery settings, and in occupational health clinics screening on behalf of employers.

When five stops being enough

A five-panel stops being the right choice the moment a policy names an analyte that is not on it. That is a policy decision rather than a clinical one, and it is cheaper to check before the next reorder than after a result comes back that nobody can act on. The 6-panel adds one more, the 10-panel widens the list considerably, and the 12-panel is the usual step for programs with prescription-drug concerns. The whole range sits on the drug test cups page.

DOT and safety-sensitive testing

Department of Transportation (DOT) rules require five-panel urine drug testing for safety-sensitive positions such as commercial drivers, and a positive result at the point of care is not the final word: DOT-regulated workplace drug test programs route any non-negative screen to a Medical Review Officer (MRO), and a presumptive positive is confirmed at a certified laboratory before it becomes a reportable drug test result. A false positive from an over-the-counter medication is exactly what confirmatory testing is designed to catch before it affects employment.

Alcohol testing as an add-on

Programs testing for the five most commonly abused drugs often add alcohol testing separately, since alcohol is regulated and detected differently from the drug panel. Pair a five-panel screen with a breath or saliva alcohol test where the policy calls for both.

What is usually ordered with it

A screen is only half of a collection. Specimen collection supplies — sterile containers, transport bags and the tubes a laboratory expects them in — normally go on the same order, so a site is not held up waiting on one to use the other.