How to Test for Alcohol Use

In moderation, alcohol usage is usually not overly detrimental to personal health and well-being. However, according to Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, "nearly 17.6 million adults in the United States are alcoholics or have alcohol problems." Additionally, an MSNBC article indicates that a national survey "estimates there are 11 million underage drinkers in the United States," and a whopping 7.2 million of those underage drinkers are considered binge drinkers. With such a high prevalence of alcohol abuse in the country, you may know somebody who has a drinking problem, but it can be hard to help this person if you don't know when he has been drinking. Luckily, there are several methods for alcohol testing that are fairly easy to perform in your own home or at a medical center for a fee.

Things You'll Need

• Breathalyzer
• Hair samples
• Bodily fluid samples

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Instructions

• 1

  Use a breathalyzer to test for intoxication. You can purchase breathalyzers from websites like Breathalyzer.net. Breathalyzers are easy to operate; simply blowing into the meter will indicate if the person being tested has been drinking. Additionally, you can tell approximately how much the person has drunk based on the blood alcohol content estimated based on his breath sample.

• 2

  Perform a sobriety test on the individual. Sobriety tests consist of several simple tasks; if a person is unable to complete the tasks, it is most likely that the individual is under the influence of alcohol. Some standard, police-issued field sobriety test tasks can be found at FieldSobrietyTests.org. Unfortunately, this method of testing is not infallible; there may be other reasons a person fails the test such as illness, physical disability or abuse of a substance other than alcohol.

• 3

  Obtain a hair sample and have it tested at a medical facility. This option is best suited for testing for long-term alcohol use, since you can test the hair even if the person is not currently drunk when the sample is obtained. Such tests are rather expensive, and there are limitations; Aalcohol-Test-Info.com says that the test only works on scalp hair at least 1/2 to 1 inch long, and multiple hairs are needed for the test.

• 4

  Test a blood sample. Blood alcohol testing can be done at local hospitals and medical centers. Blood alcohol testing is very accurate, but must be done while the person is intoxicated; you cannot test for former or prolonged use. Unfortunately, like hair testing, blood alcohol testing is expensive.

• 5

  Perform a urine test at a medical center or doctor's office. Urine tests are very inexpensive and highly accurate. Unfortunately, despite the test's accuracy, alcoholics may fool the test by sneaking a "clean" urine sample into bathroom.

• 6

  Perform a medical test on the person's saliva. This is just as accurate as blood testing, and this test is very hard to fool since the saliva is obtained directly from the person's mouth. However, these tests are a bit more expensive, though they are still significantly cheaper than hair and blood testing.

• 7

  Informally test the individual by looking for signs of alcoholism. Alcoholics often drink alone, hide alcohol around the house, drink heavily, receive citations for public drunkenness or driving under the influence and experience "blackouts."