The Importance of Student Drug Testing

Very good article… Factual and a resource to readers.

Most substance abuse professionals are aware of the importance of deterrence and detection (effective drug testing-esp. random oral-based), in concert with education and support.

Unfortunately, the general public, including parents and teachers are not equally informed.

Source: Pekin Daily Times October 2008

Surveys report that the main concern of teens ages 12 to 17 years is drugs, while parents believe the teens’ No. 1 concern is social pressure.

“Only 12 percent of those parents thought it was drugs,” Brady said. “Go home, ask your kids if they know anybody at school who is doing drugs. They’ll tell you they do – they’ll tell you who is doing alcohol, who’s doing marijuana or prescription drugs.”

“We have to cover all of the bases. If you have liquor in the house – lock it up. That’s early intervention. If you suspect your kid has a fever, you take his temperature and if it’s high you call a doctor to get help, right? It’s the same with drugs. You want to get help before there’s a problem.”

Testing for drugs is similar to testing for diseases.

“You can’t tell by looking at someone if they have diabetes. You have to be tested for it. It’s the same with drugs – you can’t always tell by looking at someone if they’re taking drugs. You have to take a test – cover all of the bases.”

Nationwide statistics claim that by the end of the seventh grade, 44 percent of all youth surveyed experimented with at least one drug. Of those, 34 percent will become regular users before the end of the year.

Teens are going to school each day in a building where drinking, use, sale and possession is as much a part of the curriculum as Math and English.

“Schools are trying to clean it up,”  “They’re trying to make kids safe. But they can’t do it alone.”

“My son – after three weeks at the high school – was offered pot. He came home and told me.”

According to Tazewell County 2008 statistics, alcohol use rose from 10 percent in sixth grade to 63 percent by 12th grade.

Meanwhile, prescription drug use increased to 14 percent while OTC (Over The Counter drugs) increased to 17 percent by 12th grade.

“Alcohol is still the drug of choice,” some parents don’t want to make an issue of drinking or taking marijuana because of their own past.

“But it’s different today,”  “It’s not the same marijuana – they’re adding chemicals, dusting it with meth and other drugs. “

That said, one in five teens will abuse a prescription medication.

“That’s why they’re calling them the ‘Generation RX.’ I’m telling you right now that the popular thing right now is parties where kids come and put in prescription drugs they took from Grandma’s medicine cabinet. They are putting Percocet, Vicodin, codeine, and Oxycontin and more into one big bowl,” she said, spreading her arms to indicate a very large bowl. “And then they’re taking handfuls of these pills and swallowing them with alcohol.”

“They don’t know what they’re doing, what they’re taking but it’s the cool thing to do now. And they say, ‘How bad can it be if my grandma is taking these drugs?’”

Another big reason kids are taking prescription drugs is because “it’s easy. There’s no snorting, no needles, no shooting up. It’s cheap and easy to get right out of the medicine cabinet at home.”

“Two in five teens believe prescription drugs are safer to take.”

Other drugs kids have access to include Ecstasy, which causes depression. A new form of ecstasy from Canada is laced with meth.

Stories like these aren’t easy to talk about,  But somebody has to do it. T

“When we survey kids – they tell us that they do not want to disappoint their parents. Talking to kids about drugs may reduce drug abuse by up to 50 percent. You have to keep the lines of communication open always.

She believes kids are like adults in that they will usually do the right thing when confronted.

“If you’re going over the speed limit and you see the cop and you think you’ll get caught speeding, what do you do? Yes, you slow down and do the speed limit. That’s early prevention. And it’s the same with kids. If they know they’re going to be tested for a drug, they’re not going to take it. And that’s also a verbal out for them.”

“It gives them an out. They can say, ‘I can’t do that, man. My mom’s got a kit at home.’ It empowers them and it empowers the parent more.”