If you’re on probation, you don’t need to have watched a lifetime’s worth of police procedural dramas to know that a positive drug test is probably not going to improve your conditions. Your probation officer will make a recommendation to the court as to how to proceed. We’ll walk you through what happens when you fail a drug test while on probation—though we hope you should never have to find out firsthand.

A Range of Consequences

Your probation officer will play a large role in what happens next. While the final word lies with the court, your probation officer will make a strong recommendation. If you’re lucky, you may only incur a stern warning, which will carry no further consequences but should strongly caution you to cease any activity that could get you in further trouble. If you get off with only a warning, take it to heart—there usually won’t be a second one.

If this isn’t your first time drawing the ire of your probation officer, you’re likely to face a much more serious response. You may see the court extend your probationary period as a result. If your officer and the court believe you have it in you to kick a drug habit, they may have you attend extended counseling or rehab programs. The worst-case scenario, however, is facing fines or even jail time as a result of a failed drug test.

Ask For a Second Opinion

What happens when you fail a drug test on probation can depend on which type of test they perform. Not every drug test is reliable. There are plenty of ways to draw false positives on drug tests, especially if this test was an on-site result (meaning it was not a lab drug test and did not go to the lab yet for confirmation). It is also not uncommon to get false positive alcohol test or scram monitor positive in the case of environmental exposure to alcohol. If you truly have reason to believe your test has returned a false positive, you’ll want to take another test for yourself to prove you were clean.

First, ask whether they performed a confirmation test on your results. If they didn’t, they should have—a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry test (or GCMS) is the gold standard in substance testing. The precision and specificity of a GCMS test can verify whether the substance in question was truly in your sample. Many drug tests use saliva or urine to screen for illegal or illicit drugs, and if this was your experience, you can submit an alternative sample that will deliver the negative results you deserve. A 5-panel or 10-panel hair follicle drug test is the smart choice. The extended detection time of a hair test will prove to your probation officer and the court that you have indeed remained in compliance with the terms of your probation, sparing you lasting legal consequences.