How Long Does Adderall Stay in Your System?

If you have used Adderall recently, you might be wondering how long this substance will stay in your system.

Drug tests can check for Adderall using four different types of samples from your body: urine, blood, saliva, and hair. Each test type makes Adderall detectable for a different amount of time.

How Long Does Adderall Stay in the Body?

Anyone who has used Adderall in the past 3 months could test positive for the drug. Let’s go over the main types of drug tests that you may encounter, as well as what goes on in your body when Adderall is being processed:

How Long Does Adderall Stay in Your Blood?

If you are tested for drugs via a blood sample, you will need to be clean for about two days to be sure that the test comes up negative. Adderall has a half-life of around 9-11 hours, and blood tests can detect Adderall for 46 hours or so after the last time taken—so two full days should be a safe bet.

Blood tests are not very common. If you are being tested at work, it is highly unlikely that you will encounter a blood test (though not impossible). This is mainly because drawing a blood sample is a pretty invasive way of testing.

These types of lab tests are common in legal and law enforcement contexts. They are accurate, but fairly expensive and they do not have a very long detection window.

How Long Does Adderall Stay in Your Hair?

Hair tests make it nearly impossible for people to try and plan their Adderall abuse around drug tests. These tests are known to find traces of Adderall for up to three months after the last dosage.

Hair testing works by sampling a hair follicle (the part of the hair that goes into your skin) from somewhere on the body or head. While these tests have an extremely long detection window, it can take a couple of weeks for Adderall use to show up on them.

Hair tests are fairly invasive because they require plucking at least one hair. They are also relatively expensive, and tend to produce more false results than other tests. For these reasons, hair tests tend to be used in conjunction with other forms of drug screening, and are rarely given in work settings.

How Long Does Adderall Stay in Your Saliva?

Saliva tests are a non-invasive form of drug testing. Only a small cotton swab from the inside of the cheek is needed to get an adequate sample. When it comes to Adderall, saliva tests can find the drug for around 20-50 hours after the last dose.

Although saliva testing has the advantage of being non-invasive, it is rarely used in work settings. This is because urine tests are cheaper and generally more accurate. Saliva tests are mainly used by law enforcement officers in the field, such as when they need to conduct a drug test during a traffic stop.

How Long Does Adderall Stay in Your Urine?

If you are reading this article because of at-work drug testing, you will want to know how long Adderall stays in your urine. The drug and its metabolites (chemicals produced by your body to break it down) can be found by urine testing for 2-3 days.

Urine tests are the most common at-work drug tests. They are cheap, non-invasive (only require peeing in a cup in a private setting), have solid accuracy and a decent detection window.

You can never be sure that a drug test will be given via a urine sample, so the best way to ensure your results will be negative is to stop using Adderall and detox safely.

Factors That Affect How Long Adderall Will Stay in Your System

The second you take a drug like Adderall, your body starts breaking it down. The time it takes to complete this process is not the same for everyone. Here are the main factors that affect your body’s ability to process Adderall quickly:

Physical Factors

Various systems in your body must coordinate with each other to remove toxins like Adderall. How long it lasts in your body depends on your:

  • Health (especially that of the liver and kidneys)
  • Age
  • Weight
  • Body mass index (body fat percentage)
  • Genetics
  • Metabolism

People who are healthy, young, and who have a fast metabolism will usually remove Adderall from their body at a faster rate than others. When it comes to moving drugs through your system, the liver and kidneys are especially important.

People who drink a lot or abuse drugs heavily tend to have worse liver and kidney function, making this process slower. Additionally, chemicals like Adderall can be stored in fat cells in the body, so higher percentages of body fat usually result in slower processing times.

Adderall Use Specifics

One major factor that affects the duration of time Adderall stays in the body is how it has been used. Those who abused the drug once or twice before taking a college exam will have an easier time processing Adderall than someone who has been heavily abusing it for a long time.

Because the brain effects of Adderall can result in euphoric feelings, the drug can be very addictive. Addicts who abuse Adderall with a high frequency of use for a long time will get a ‘build-up’ of the drug in their system. When they start detoxing, it will take them longer because of this build-up.

Another important consideration when it comes to Adderall is what form of the drug was taken. Adderall comes in both a standard form and an extended-release version called Adderall XR. The extended-release version is designed to break down slowly in the body, so its use will result in longer detection times.

Mental Factors

You may be surprised to know that your mental state can determine how long your body takes to break down drugs. Conditions such as anxiety and depression, which are commonly found in people who also suffer from addiction, can slow down the body’s ability to process toxins.

Treatment for Adderall Addiction

Adderall abuse is no joke. This drug is dangerous and highly addictive. If you or someone you know has been misusing Adderall, call your local treatment center today to start the path to recovery.


Ready to make a change? Talk to a specialist now.