MOTHER'S LITTLE HELPER

New Test Lets Parents Check Johnny for Drug Use-Behind His
Back

We'll never know who pawned that copy of Angela's Ashes at a New York
bookstore, whether the person was male or female, minor or adult. But with
one swipe of a new drug test across the paperback cover, we learned
something infinitely more private: the previous owner likely endured the
McCourt clan's Limerick woes with the aid of Marijuana.

Drug Detector, which offers America's first over-the-counter tests for
marijuana and cocaine residue, requires nary a strand of hair, drop of
saliva, or jar of pee. Sold by American Bio Medica of Kinderhook, New York,
the product promises to make drug testing a nonconfrontational pastime.
Instead of begging a child to submit to an invasive sample-based test,
parents can now covertly slip into their son's or daughter's room and
instantly discover whether microscopic specks of herb or blow dot the desk,
drawers, or pillowcases.

"We feel the value of the service that is provided to consumers, especially
parents, outweighs the privacy issue in most cases."

"Teenagers don't tell their parents when they're using drugs," says Stan
Cipkowski, the company's founder and CEO. "And most parents don't have the
kind of relationship with their kid-or the balls-to simply go up to the kid
and say, 'Here, pee in this cup. I'm going to test you right now.' "

Since 1996, American Bio Medica's flagship product has been Rapid Drug
Screen, a kind of dipstick urinalysis test popular with emergency rooms and
drug-free workplace programs. But since it relies on human biological
material, Rapid Drug Screen faces a lengthy FDA review before it can be
marketed to retail customers.

Fortunately for the company, a firm called Mistral Security, a specialist
in explosives detection, had created a drug-residue test for which it had
little use. American Bio Medica licensed the invention, which needed no
federal approval, and began packaging it for drugstores and online
shoppers. Kits have been available at www.americanbiomedica.com since June,
and Cipkowski predicts that Drug Detector will begin appearing in
major-chain pharmacies by the beginning of next year.

A Drug Detector pack contains 10 matchbook-sized papers and a small,
chemical-filled aerosol canister. Simply wipe the suspect surface with a
collection paper, spray it, and wait for a color change. A positive result
for marijuana is indicated by the rapid appearance of reddish brown dots;
for the cocaine version, blue spots suggest that minute traces of nose
candy are in evidence. At $34.95, or about $3.50 per test, Drug Detector is
far cheaper than such laboratory staples as urinalysis ($10 to $12) or hair
analysis ($60). The company also plans to sell an "industrial" version of
the kit, containing papers and sprays for methamphetamines and opiates.

Despite the low price, American Bio Medica claims that Drug Detector is as
reliable as any law-enforcement diagnostic device-somewhere in the
neighborhood of 98 percent accurate. False positives can occur when
uncontrolled substances such as nutmeg or henna are present, but the
company claims such instances are rare.

In nonscientific field tests conducted by the Voice, the product was,
indeed, able to detect the presence of Mary Jane residue on the freshly
polished desk of one habitual blunt smoker, while giving an appropriately
clean bill of health to the elevator doors at 10 Rockefeller Plaza. A copy
of the Allman Brothers' eponymous 1973 album, recently purchased at a
street fair, surprisingly tested negative for marijuana residue. At least
one naughty patron of Chelsea hot spot Serena apparently used the men's
room sink to powder his nose; the loo at nearby cop hangout Peter McManus
was pristine.

American Bio Medica is quick to point out that should a child's backpack,
jacket, or computer keyboard test positive, the result should not be
considered absolute proof of narcotics use. "You can determine at least if
there have been illegal drugs in his immediate area," says Brittany
Johnson, the company's national sales manager. "That doesn't mean this
person has used drugs, just that they have been exposed. A voluntary
follow-up with a Rapid Drug Screen allows you to determine if he's using."

Civil libertarians, predictably, bristle at the concept of behind-the-back
checkups. Louise Roback, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union's
Capital Region chapter, vehemently objects to the test's inability to
differentiate between contact and use. "If you're going to use that for a
basis to terminate someone," she told the Albany Times Union in June, "it's
a basis for concern."

Though its Web site pitches Drug Detector for use in the workplace, the
company emphasizes that the primary market is not businesses but parents.
"We feel the value of the service that is provided to consumers, especially
parents, outweighs the privacy issue in most cases," says Johnson. "Keep in
mind that the parents who are going to use this product aren't trying to
hurt their child or take away their rights. They are trying to gather the
right information so they can open a dialogue with that child and get them
the help they need so they can live to see adulthood." To that end, each
Drug Detector kit includes a questions-and-answers brochure that provides
contact information for Phoenix House and the National Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, as well as the aphorism "Remember, you are
not a bad parent."

Rave habitues have also expressed reservations, bombarding the company's
Web site with negative feedback. "Their opinion is that we're bleep bleeps,
bleep bleeps," says Melissa Decker, investor relations manager. "They say,
Why are we bothering a society that we don't even know about just so we can
feel comfortable at night and we can go home to our nice houses and our
nice dogs? Why don't we bother the crackheads on the corner that are
shooting kids?" The company's response: "We thank them for their comments."

Cipkowski acknowledges that misuse is possible, perhaps by "some supervisor
who has a vendetta against an employee, or some parent who is overly
paranoid." But he maintains that Drug Detector's lifesaving potential far
outweighs any ethical sticking points. More importantly, with an estimated
15,000 teens trying drugs for the first time each day, a financial bonanza
awaits. "We're here to make money for our shareholders, number one," says
Cipkowski. "The fact that we're selling a product that we think is going to
help in a parent-child relationship, that's number two."