HOME-USE DRUG KIT SALES SOAR, GROUP SAYS

Since Nancy Reagan preached "Just Say No" in the 1980s, the adage has
served as the guiding principle for the nation's drug prevention efforts.

But Mason Duchatschek of Washington, Mo., wants America to embrace a
new anti-drug axiom.

"I want, 'No thanks, my parents test me,' to replace, 'Just say no,'"
Duchatschek, 38, said last week. "I want that to take place in bus
stops and playgrounds and locker rooms, because when kids say, 'Just
say no,' I'm convinced the pressure gets worse."

Parents seeking a more accurate way to detect drug use than smelling
their children's breath or looking into their eyes are turning to
businesses such as Duchatschek's TestMyTeen.com, a website that sells
home drug-testing kits.

Since 1999, sales of home test kits have more than doubled, to $6
billion last year, according to an industry group that tracks such
sales. Prices range from around $15 for kits that test urine for 10
different drugs, to $90 for kits that test hair clippings and claim to
detect drugs consumed months earlier.

'Just keeps growing'

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages such testing, saying
kits fail to advise parents of the limitations of the tests, including
the chances for false-positive readings. And experts say there's no
evidence that such tests, even if accurate, curb drug abuse.

Duchatschek incorporated his business in January of last year. Sales
blossomed, he said, "from a trickle to now thousands of kits a month.
And it just keeps growing."

Walgreens' spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said sales of their own test kits
had jumped markedly in stores here since last year. "We've sold a lot
of them, not just to parents, but also to job seekers who wonder if
they are clean," she said. "It's been a booming business."

This month, Duchatschek sent e-mails to every Missouri school district
with more than 200 students, offering $5,000 in vouchers, good for one
free kit per family.

So far, three districts in Jefferson County - Hillsboro, De Soto and
Windsor - have accepted his offer.

A press release last week from Charlie Bouzek, Windsor's assistant
superintendent, repeated, almost verbatim, the sales pitch from
TestMyTeen.com.

Bouzek wrote that by using Duchatschek's kits, parents did not have to
"risk privacy and anonymity by standing next to the neighborhood
gossip at the checkout register."

"That's why ordering is done online and shipping is done using
nondescript packaging. Ongoing random testing continues to provide
kids with the excuse they need and parents with the peace of mind they
deserve."

Bouzek, along with administrators at Hillsboro and De Soto, said
Jefferson County's reputation as a center of methamphetamine abuse had
nothing to do with their participation in TestMyTeen.com.

Duchatschek said his kits offered schools an effective way to fight
drugs without any legal, political or financial risks.

Caution advised

But a debate is brewing over testing at home and in schools. And an
expert who has written extensively on home drug-testing is wary of
Duchatschek's motives.

"I think we should be a little bit cautious at the school policy level
when someone's making a big profit selling these things," said Dr.
Sharon Levy of Harvard Medical School.

"We really haven't seen any research to support any claims that drug
testing at schools or at home has positive benefits. Just nothing but
anecdotes. And I do really think in some families, it's going to have
a negative effect on the parent-child relationship."

Levy, 40, who is also the director of the Center for Adolescent
Substance Abuse Research at Children's Hospital in Boston, said
talking to children about drugs should come well before any testing.

"Let's do an experiment," she suggested. "Let's have a school that
tests for drugs in urine and let's have another school where a
professional comes in and interviews the kids on a regular basis and
let's compare who has the better results - the school that talks
knowledgeably and regularly about drugs versus the urine samplers.
Nobody out there is talking to the kids."

Parent backs kits

One parent who said he regularly tested his child for drugs at home
said the kits worked where talking failed.

Mike Peterson, of St. Clair, said he noticed two years ago that his
son, Benjamin, now 16, had become withdrawn.

Benjamin's grades dropped. He lost interest in sports and hobbies. And
he became surly with his parents.

"I'm ashamed to admit it but all the signs were there and I didn't see
them," Peterson, 45, said. "I thought it was just a phase - this, too,
shall pass."

Peterson, who operates an Internet business, found TestMyTeen.com
while searching online for symptoms that matched his son's.

He ordered several kits. He told his son that he had to take the test
or he could not leave the house. Peterson said he watched,
broken-hearted, as the test strip revealed the presence of four drugs
in his son's urine: cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines and
barbiturates.

"He said, 'Dad, I guess you finally found me out. I've got a problem,
and I'd like your help.' And I gave him help. I locked him down for a
period of time. I watched him lay on the floor going through withdrawal.

"And that's the way I wanted it to work - I wanted to solve the
problem myself."

Peterson said Monday that his son had been clean for "11 months, three
weeks and three days."

Duchatschek's own son is too young to test for drugs. But the day is
coming, he said.

"My son is in second grade. And he came up to me and said, 'Dad, don't
worry about me. You'll never have to test me for drugs.'

"And I said, 'Well, I'm glad to hear that, son. But I will be testing
you. So expect it, because it's coming.'"

Talking to children about drugs

Start early.

Use everyday opportunities to talk, such as TV shows that mention
drugs.

Role-play ways children can say no to offers of drugs.

State your family position: "We don't allow drug use, and children in
this family aren't allowed to drink alcohol."

Repeat the message.

Be a good example.

Try to be honest.

Build your child's self-esteem.

If you suspect a problem, seek help.

Source: talkingwithkids.org

Researcher Mark Learman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this story