PARENTS SAY OVER-THE-COUNTER HOME DRUG TESTS PROVIDE PEACE OF MIND

Teens Say It's An Issue 0f Privacy

On the pillow, in the drain, from a brush - parents are finding peace
of mind wherever their teenagers leave behind hair.

A home drug test, called HairConfirm, that hit the shelves in June
analyzes hair samples to determine drug use within the past three
months. The company said thousands of kits have been sold and the main
customers are parents who want to check on their teenagers
anonymously.

"We take no personal information," said Zeynep Ilgaz, chief executive
officer of Confirm BioSciences, the maker of HairConfirm. "But based
on our survey results and our customer phone calls, we know most of
our customers are parents looking for answers. They want to know what
their children are doing."

Those answers for parents cost just $69.95 through CVS pharmacies and
Amazon.com. But Calee Atkinson, a high-school junior, said she thinks
they shouldn't cost anything at all.

"I think parents should be able to talk to their kids," the
16-year-old said. "I would feel betrayed by my parents if they did the
test. If they cared enough, they would confront me first."

Ilgaz said her company recommends parents talk to their children
before sending in hair to be tested, but she knows some parents feel
they have no other option. They turn to discarded hair in brushes and
in drains for samples.

Tracy Bush, Atkinson's mother, said she would do whatever it takes to
get the hair for testing, even if her daughter felt it was an invasion
of privacy.

"It's not a privacy thing," Bush said. "Drugs can ruin their lives.
You can determine if they need help."

Though multiple home drug tests are available on the market,
HairConfirm is the first with lab technology that not only analyzes
hair for traces of seven drugs, but also can determine usage frequency
up to 90 days. With about 90 strands, lab results, posted online
within 48 hours of receiving the hair sample, tell parents what drugs
their teens have used and if they are low-, medium-or high-frequency
users.

"That makes a big difference to parents in knowing how to get help,"
Ilgaz said. "It's the difference between a parent saying, ?My kid has
experimented,' and, ?My kid is addicted.'"

In a sampling of 1,162 test results from the last five months, Ilgaz
said 21 percent came back positive for narcotics. The most common drug
used, she said, was cocaine, with about 14 percent of the positive
results.

Marijuana, which is considered the most common illicit drug in the
U.S., came in with just 2.5 percent of the positive results, though
national surveys indicate much higher use among teens. According to
the Office of National Drug Control Policy's 2007 Monitoring the
Future survey, 41.8 percent of high school seniors said they had used
marijuana at some point in their life.

Test results

- - In a sampling of 1,162 HairConfirm test results from June through
December, 75 percent (869) came back negative for traces of drugs or
their metabolites.

- - 21 percent (240) came back positive for traces of drugs or their
metabolites.

- - Out of the positive tests, 14 percent tested positive for
cocaine.

. 3.6 percent tested positive for meth.

. 2.5 percent tested positive for marijuana.

. 1.3 percent tested positive for ecstasy.

- - The remainder of the test results were unreadable, due to lab or
user error.

HairConfirm

How it works

- - Parents purchase the home drug test kit, which includes instructions
and prepaid envelope to send in samples.

- - Hair sample must include a "lock" of hair, or about 90 strands, to
provide accurate results.

- - Parents send in the sample and then register a specimen ID number,
passcode and e-mail address on the company's Web site,
hairconfirm.com.

- - When the results are available, they can be accessed using the
information the parent registered.

- - Counseling options and service representatives are available to help
with the results.