COUNCIL OKS ANONYMOUS DRUG TEST KITS FOR FAMILIES

The Tests, According To Police Chief Ronald Coffey, Who Proposed Them, Are
To Help Parents Get A "Better Undersanding" Of Whether Their Children Use
Drugs.

LITTLE COMPTON -- Police Chief Ronald Coffey wants to make drug-testing
kits available to parents, he informed Town Council last week. The council
voted unanimously to endorse Chief Coffey's About Safer Kids program, or
A.S.K., after he addressed some concerns members had, Town Council
president Donald Gomez said.

Coffey assured the council that the tests were "95 percent accurate," Gomez
said, and that anonymity of families who chose to use the urine tests was
guaranteed.

"All the answers came up favorable from the Town Council viewpoint," Gomez
said. He said there was no way to trace who received or used a kit.

Coffey said last week that his aim was to help parents have a "better
understanding" of whether their children were doing drugs. "All it is is
another tool," Coffey said. "I'm not forcing anyone to take them. This is
for a parent that is genuinely concerned." He added that if he had doubts
about his own child, he would be willing to use a test. "As a parent, I'd
want to know."

The tests, paid for by the police union, take about 5 minutes to provide
results, Coffey said, and will detect traces of amphetamines, marijuana,
cocaine, barbiturates, Ecstasy and methadone, among others.

"They will be handed out no questions asked," Coffey said.

The test kits are not yet available.

The police intend to give the kits to local services, such as the Community
Center, which will then give them out free of charge upon request. Lee
Wyatt, the program director at the Community Center, said yesterday that
the center will not be "actively handing them out, but people can come in
and get them if they want." She said they had not yet received any testing
kits from the police.

Coffey acknowledged that Little Compton did not suffer from some of the
ill-effects of drug abuse that have ravaged other communities across the
nation. However, he added, that did not mean the problem did not exist.

"We don't have drug dealers standing on the corners," Coffey said. "But
it's here, we know it's here. This problem is everywhere. No geographical
area is immune."