Pubdate: Thu, 01 Sep 2005
Source: Register, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005, Community Newspaper  Company
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/barnstable/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3597
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1353/a07.html?113029

ALCOHOL IS MOST PERVASIVE DRUG

To the Editor:

Regarding Joe Burns' Aug. 18 story on drug testing  ("Parents can test kids 
with drug kits"), parents should think twice before  asking their kids to 
urinate on demand. Despite a  short-lived high, marijuana is the only 
illegal drug that stays in the human  body long enough to make urinalysis a 
deterrent. Marijuana's organic metabolites  are fat-soluble and can linger 
for days. Synthetic drugs are water-soluble and  exit the body quickly. A 
teenager who takes methamphetamine, OxyContin or heroin  Friday night will 
likely test clean Monday morning. If you think teenagers don't  know this, 
think again. Anyone capable of running an Internet search can find  out how 
to thwart a drug test. Drug  testing profiteers do not readily volunteer 
this information, for obvious  reasons. The most commonly abused drug and 
the one most closely associated with  violent behavior is almost impossible 
to detect with urinalysis. That drug is  alcohol, and it takes far more 
young lives each year than all illegal drugs  combined.

Robert  Sharpe,

MPA Policy Analyst Common  Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom