I want to quit my job for a new one but found out after signing the offer letter that a hair follicle test is required. Should I risk it or withdraw?
I’ve been very dissatisfied with my current job. It’s not the career I want, the people I work with are annoying, and it seems like I’m at the end of the rope there’s absolutely nothing more that I can learn from the position and it’s burning me out. I’ve been interviewing for about a month now and I finally received an offer letter for a dream position at a private company on Thursday. I was planning on putting in my two weeks notice this Monday but I received the onboarding documents and found out that they require a hair follicle drug test. When I saw this requirement my heart stopped and I felt like my world was gonna fall apart. Usually I’m clean but I’ve used mdma on Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend which was about 50 days ago. Now I see that it was a mistake but at the time we heard great things about it and figured it would be fun/wholesome to try it together. I did some research and it turns out that this one time use will certainly make me fail the test. Unlike a urine test where you can pass as long as you’re clean for a week, a hair follicle test will fail you if you used anything within 90 days.
I really don’t want to stay at my current job so I’m considering two options. Either take my chances with the test perhaps after stripping my hair with bleach hoping that whatever metabolites accumulated with the mdma leaks out or withdraw my application for personal reasons. I’m also unsure if I should submit my two weeks notice with my current job if I don’t know if I’ll pass the drug test. I already gave the new job a start date that would mirror my two weeks notice period starting on Monday. I also don’t want to stay at my current job as it’s extremely draining on my mental health. I’m figuring that I should just quit either way and live off my savings as I try to find something else.
Has anyone had success with passing a hair follicle drug test? And from a career perspective, is it better to fail a drug test or to withdraw before taking it?
Posted Apr 5, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC