Alcohol & Other Drugs: Testing and Metabolism

Due to the large volume of questions Spot receives about drug testing, it has be come necessary that we only answer questions if they differ substantively from the information provided below. Spot will only answer your question specifically if there is any element of it that cannot be answered by the information provided on this page.

Drug Testing for Alcohol

The literature on alcohol provides differing values on the time it takes to metabolize alcohol. You will find values ranging anywhere from one half of a drink to one and a quarter drinks per hour. Spot has to ascribe to the value used in the alcohol research programs at the University of Washington, a very trustworthy resource; that rate is two-thirds of one "standard" drink per hour. Therefore, expect that each drink takes about one hour and twenty minutes to get completely through your system and into the urine. This rate applies to men and women, irrespective of weight. (Weight/size is relevant only to computing blood alcohol content; everyone metabolizes alcohol at about the same, fixed rate). In addition to the 80 minutes per drink, the metabolites of alcohol (breakdown products of alcohol) may be detectable in the urine for an 24 to 48 hours after the last drink. The "Drink Equivalancies List" below tell you how much of any given form of alcohol is equivalent to one "standard" drink, and this should assist you in your calculation. Please do not ask Spot to do the calculation for you! The information on this page is sufficient for you to compute how long it will take you to be alcohol-free for a test. Spot appreciates your understanding!

There is nothing you can do to hasten the metabolism of alcohol! Not coffee, drinking lots of water, cold showers, vitamins...

Drink Equivalencies

• 12 ounces beer
• 10 ounces microbrew
• 10 ounces wine cooler or hard lemonade
• 8 ounces malt liquor
• 8 ounces Canadian beer
• 6 ounces ice malt liquor
• 4 ounces wine
• 2-1/2 ounces fortified wine
• 1-1/4 ounces hard alcohol, 80 proof
• 1 ounce hard alcohol, 100 proof