Urine drug screens are a painless test designed to detect a range of drugs in the urine. They may be performed at Middlemore Hospital Laboratory for a number of reasons:

• to monitor that a person is taking prescribed or other medication
• to check for overdose or inappropriate drug use for persons seen in the Emergency Department and/or admitted to hospital 
• for a pre-employment drug screen as required by some employers, or in some safety-sensitive areas such as airlines(performed by laboratories such as LabPlus at Auckland City Hospital or ESR)
• for persons undertaking a drug treatment program to monitor any illegal or inappropriate drug use and also to see if they are taking required medication such as Methadone for treating opiate addiction.

Many drugs can be tested for including:  paracetamol, aspirin, cannabis, benzodiazepines (e.g. Valium), amphetamines (e.g. “P” Ecstasy) opiates (e.g. codeine, morphine), Clozaril (clozapine).