Consider drug test at home

It could benefit your teenager

By TERRY L. STAWAR
newsroom@news-tribune.net

Last year over 26 percent of Indiana high school seniors reported that they had rode in a car driven by a drunk driver that year. Over 41 percent indicated that they used alcohol monthly, and over 17 percent reported monthly use of marijuana. This is a sure and certain recipe for tragedy, as recent local events have sadly borne out.

My wife, Diane, who counsels youth and families at Brandon’s House in New Albany, suggested this column after reading in Newsweek how at home drug testing for teen-agers is widely being used to identify teens in need of help.

Non-medical drug testing has grown into a major industry in America. Random drug testing is de rigueur for most sensitive businesses, and in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court, supported a school districtís policy requiring middle and high school students to submit to random drug tests to participate in extra-curricular activities.

In 1997, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first home drug test kit available without prescription. This test was devised by J. Theodore Brown Jr., Ph.D., a psychologist-entrepreneur. Dr. Brown designed his kit to be used by relatives of substance abusers, hoping to prevent relapse in their loved ones. In his system a urine sample was mailed to a certified laboratory in a tamperproof container.

Today hundreds of new products have flooded this market. These tests range from $2.35 cannabis dip-strip tests, to sophisticated professional devices costing hundreds of dollars, that can even detect drug traces on objects. Most home test kits fall in the 25$-35$ range. Some still require sending a sample to a laboratory, but many now can be read at home like home pregnancy tests.

Hair, saliva, breath and most often urine tests are available. Depending on the cost, these tests can screen for a wide variety of substances including: cannabis, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, methamphetamines, PCP, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, MDMA, oxycodone, methadone, alcohol, tobacco, and even anabolic steroids. Most of these test kits are available on-line, although Walgreens, Target, and other major retailers also carry some of these products on their inventories.

At home drug testing is not without its critics. Concerns relating to privacy and informed consent have been raised, as well as technical issues. Test directions may be complicated, parents may not know which test to select, and false results are always possible. For example, heavy intake of caffeinated coffee or taking pseudoephedrine for a cold may taint results. Other problems include the fact that negative results are difficult to interpret, teenagers may try to defeat the testing by adulterating samples, and some critics are concerned that such testing destroys trust between parents and teens.

When Dr. Brown’s kit was first considered by FDA, columnist Ellen Goodman wrote in The Boston Globe, if there’s any hedge against trouble, it’s in building a relationship of trust Ask teenagers what they want. They want parents, not parole officers.î

In another article published in the journal Pediatrics in 2002, Dr. Sharon Levy, from Harvard Medical School, citing many issues mentioned above concludes writing “We believe that parents would be better served by a professional assessment for any young person who is suspected of using drugs.”

But many parents have been frustrated after going to professionals who refuse to test adolescents and who may have little to offer in terms of real help for the complex problem of adolescent substance abuse. Personally, I found Dr. Levy’s article condescending to parents and while I often agree with Ellen Goodman, I think she missed the point this time. Respect and trust for children does not mean burying your head in the sand. It is already much too tempting to deny or minimize such problems.

At the time of the approval of Dr. Brown’s kit, Clinton administration Health and Human Services Secretary, Donna Shalala said “The approval of this test gives parents another option to consider to help ensure that their children remain drug-free.”

Mason Duchatschek, executive director of a popular at home drug testing company (www.TestMyTeen.com) says that after selling tens of thousands of kits, ”we’ve experienced better than a 99 percent correlation between the results of our testing kits and lab results on the same samples. He believes that such tests offer two main advantages: privacy and the ability to deter teens from drug use in a way that wonít embarrass them in front of their friends. He says, “Now kids have a ‘socially acceptable excuse’ when they say I can’t because my parents test me.”

Positive test results should not be used to blame or criticize, but should serve as a ”ticket to treatment.” Help is available locally, but everyone should also realize that substance abuse treatment is often a long difficult path, with relapses and setbacks the norm. However, the sooner it begins, the sooner it can be successful.

While at home drug tests are no panacea, they do give parents a useful tool and a possible deterrent they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Terry L. Stawar, Ed.D. lives in Georgetown and is the CEO of LifeSpring in Jeffersonville, Indiana