How Long Do Drugs Stay in Your System?

How long do drugs stay in your system? Well, first let us define what a drug is. A drug is any substance that changes how one’s body functions when being absorbed. When talking about drugs we usually think of such illegal drugs as amphetamines, hallucinogens, opioids or cannabis.

So, how long do drugs stay in your system? This depends on many factors.

1. Physiological characteristics
   Mostly, how much time drugs stay in your system depends on your age, physical height and weight, your body mass, health state, etc. For example, the older an individual, the slower his/her metabolic rate becomes. Thus, the older a person, the longer a drug will stay in his/her system. Or, the higher one’s body mass, the longer a drug stays in his/her system.
2. Frequency of use
   The other factor that influences how long drugs stay in your system is how frequently you use them (one time, three times per day), how much you use them and how long you keep taking drugs.
3. Type of drugs
   Certain drugs take longer to metabolize. However, those with high metabolic rates can metabolize drugs quicker than those with low metabolic rates. Thus, if you want to determine how long drugs will stay in your system, you should have an idea of your metabolic rate.

So, how long do specific drugs stay in your system?

Here is a list for you to check:

Amphetamines Biphetamine, Crosses, Dexedrine, Black Beauties, Hearts	1 to 3 days in urine around 12 hours in blood
Anabolic steroids Stanzolol, Stanazolol, Nandrolene, Steroids, Roids	oral - up to 3 weeks in blood injected - up to 3-6 months and more in blood
Barbiturates Amytal, Nembutal, Seconal, Phenobarbital; Barbs	2 to 4 days in urine 1 to 2 days in blood
Benzodiazepines Ativan, Halcion, Librium, Rohypnol, Valium; Roofies, Tranks, Xanax	3 to 6 weeks in urine most 2-3 days in blood; a few 4-8 days in blood
Cocaine Candy, Coke, Crack, Flake, Rocks, Snow, Whitecoat	3 to 4 days in urine 1 - 2 days in blood
Codeine Fiorinal w/codeine, Robitussin A-C, Empirin w/codeine	1 day in urine 12 hours in blood
Heroin Horse, Smack	3 to 4 days in urine up to 12 hours in blood
Inhalants	just a few hours
Ketamine K, Kit Kat, Special K, Vitamin K	2-4 days
LSD Acid, Blotter, Microdot, Yellow sunshine	1 to 3 days in urine 2 - 3 hours in blood
Marijuana Bud, Blunt, Grass, Herb, Pot, Sinsemilla, Smoke, Weed	up to 30 days in urine 2 weeks in blood
MDMA Ecstasy	3 - 4 days in urine 1 - 2 days in blood
Morphine	2 - 3 days in urine 6 - 8 hours in blood
Methadone	3 - 4 days in urine 24 - 36 hours in blood
Methamphetamines Crank, Crystal, Desoxyn, Glass, Ice, Speed	3 to 6 days in urine 24 - 72 hours in blood
Phenobarbital	2 to 3 weeks in urine up to a week in blood
PCP Angel Dust, Boat, Hog, Love Boat	up to 30 days in urine 2 - 4 days in blood
Suboxone	2 - 5 days in urine up to 3 days in blood

For chronic drug users, drugs (but we are not talking about alcohol) stay in their system much longer. For instance, PCP and marijuana can be detected for up to 60-90 days after lengthy and heavy-use periods of use.