Pubdate: Sun, 05 Nov 2006
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2006 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Jean H. Poole
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DETERRENCE IS THE POINT OF DRUG TESTING

I have owned a company for 15 years that manages corporate drug-free 
workplaces. Drug-testing is the cornerstone of such programs. In 
addition, I offer a community-service, teenage-drug testing program 
in which well over 1,000 parents and kids have participated. We only 
charge our cost for a teenage test because of the value teenage 
drug-testing provides in the effort to curb drug abuse.

Although I have never approached schools or school administrators 
with my thoughts on deterring teenage use ["A choice to test," Front 
Page, Oct. 28], I have much experience in this arena and offer the 
following thoughts and opinions.

* It is no more an invasion of privacy to test for drugs than it is 
for the police to use radar to measure your highway speed or a 7-11 
to use a camera to film your behavior in the store. It is well known 
that the fear of being caught is the most effective deterrent available.

* The objective of a drug test is not to catch someone using drugs 
but to deter him or her from using. It is true that regular 
drug-testing gives kids a reason to think twice and an excuse to say, "No."

* If a teenage drug-testing program is not properly managed it can do 
more harm than good because a negative test does not mean a kid is 
not using drugs; a laboratory analyzed and medically reviewed 
positive test is conclusive. Too often a parent assumes that a kid is 
not using drugs based on a negative test that is not properly 
performed. Immediate result drug-test kits do not test at very low 
levels and/or often not for the wide variety of drugs that kids use. 
Only a test that is sent to a laboratory can test for many different 
drugs and test at the lowest levels.

Also, testing often is not performed often enough to be a deterrent. 
Many drugs are only present for a few hours in the human system. I 
have been told by many teenage users that their school testing is not 
a concern to them because their chances of being caught are slim. It 
is also essential that parents participate by enforcing reasonable 
suspicion/for cause testing. This means that they keep a collection 
kit at home mostly, again, as a deterrent, but they must be willing 
to use it if necessary, for example, when a kid comes home past 
curfew, has been in the company of suspicious friends or changes 
his/her normal behavior.

Never before in history has there existed the kind of pressure 
exerted on our susceptible kids to use drugs. I do not believe that 
our immature children have the fortitude to mount the necessary 
resistance. We adults must help them by employing the only method 
proven (by years of corporate testing) known to deter use -- testing, 
combined with continuing education.

Jean H. Poole

Chairman/CEO

OHS Health & Safety Services, Inc.

Costa Mesa
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman