Suspicious Minds

It’s hard for 17 year old Matt to hide anything from Mom. A sample of his blood, urine, even his hair can be used to answer her question. Are you doing drugs? Matt says he does not mind taking the at home drug tests. “Just proving to her and proving her wrong makes me feel good,” says Matt.

Matt’s mom, Sonny, uses a home test that involves gathering a urine sample and sending it to a lab. Tests of hair or skin are also available, but experts say they are not as reliable. “Kids understand, my mom loves me enough to do this and I may not like it but that’s not the issue here,” says Sonny. “The issue here is it’s for my own good.”

Still, other kids say home drug tests are a breach of trust. “I guess I’d tell my parents that it hurt that they didn’t trust me that much but I’d still let them test me for drugs,” says fifteen year old Ryan.

“Adolescence is a time of rebellion and quite often the child may in fact be saying no I just don’t want to submit to this invasion of my privacy,” says Dr. James Ritchi, a toxicologist who analyzes drug tests. “Kids often try to beat the drug test. The best way to prevent problems is to explain that random drug testing is part of the family drug plan.”

What Parents Should Know

Experts advise parents to weigh all sides of drug testing before home testing kids. The following tips will help make drug testing a more positive experience should you decide to test your child.

1. Let kids know ahead of time that you will be randomly drug testing.
2. Tell them the testing will be an easy out with friends. They can avoid peer pressure by telling others that their parents randomly drug test so using is not an option.
3. Tell kids you want to help maximize their potential and protect them from the very real dangers of drug abuse.

Parents might want to consider having probable cause before using a drug test. If parents suspect drug use or have some reason to believe their kids are using drugs, a drug test might be an appropriate choice.

Still, experts advise checking with a doctor before making conclusive decisions about whether a child is using drugs. While many companies tout their tests as extremely effective, false positives and false negatives are real possibilities.