A preliminary evaluation of five rapid detection kits for on site drugs of abuse screening.

There are now several rapid drugs of abuse testing kits that have been designed for near-patient testing and on-site clinic screening for drug abuse. These kits are sold on the basis of their cost and rapid generation of accurate results. Five such kits have been evaluated by comparison with recognized and established methodologies. All of the kits evaluated were found to lack both sensitivity and specificity. An unacceptable proportion of false negative and false positive results were observed for most kits. This raises the question of their usefulness in the near-patient and clinic situation.