How Long Does Cocaine Stay In Your System?

You may be wondering how long cocaine stays in your system especially if you are just about to take a drug test. Various factors affect the length of time, including the amount of the drug taken, your weight and height, the frequency that you are taking cocaine, and your body's overall rate of metabolism.

In general, cocaine stays in the body's system between 17 and 24 hours, and is usually undetectable in urine after 12 hours, although a large dose may still register up to 72 hours later. However, the main metabolite present in cocaine, benzoylecgonine, takes a lot longer to vanish from the system and because of this, most drug tests are actually looking for traces of Benzoylecgonine. It can take even longer for all traces of cocaine to be eliminated from your body if you combine the cocaine with alcohol. The alcohol and cocaine taken together combine to create a metabolite called cocaethylene, and this can typically take between 5 and 20 days for all traces to vanish, depending on the amount consumed and the regularity of the usage. Traces of cocaethylene will be eliminated more quickly if water is consumed regularly after consuming the alcohol and cocaine.

One problem that regular or heavy users can face is that a drug screening test can show positive even if they haven't taken cocaine in a long time. This is because the drug is stored in the liver and other fatty tissues and is continuously released in to the blood stream. False readings are also reported in drug tests for other reasons, especially among those taking certain medications, or those with a chronic liver or kidney disease. Different types of drug screening tests can also give different results; the 4 main types of drug screening test are the blood, hair, saliva and urine test. The most common method of testing is the urine test, because it is inexpensive and painless. If you have been subjected to a drug test and the results are positive despite the fact that you have never taken cocaine, you should of course request a second test.