LAB OFFERS KIT FOR DRUG TESTING AT HOME

MICHIGAN CITY -- With the Indiana State Court of Appeals' August decision
that random drug testing in high schools was illegal, some concerned
parents wanted measures to make sure their children were not using drugs.

Great Lakes Laboratories, the lab that conducted the random tests for
Chesterton High School, came up with a solution.

"I had a handful of parents who had no idea where they could find a place
to drug-screen their child confidentially in the privacy of their own home
and then have the ability of consultation with board-certified
toxicologists," said Michelle Volk, director of Great Lakes Laboratories in
Michigan City.

Volk decided to offer kits that allowed home testing for only $33.

"We have parents out there that suspect their children might be using," she
said. "Instead of having to wait to see a physician, we have the kits
available that they can do in their own home."

Volk said the laboratory offers two distinct tests. The first kit tests for
marijuana, amphetamines, opiates, cocaine and PCP. The other kit adds five
other, less common drugs.

"A parent can choose whatever they want," Volk said, adding that the lab
could screen for alcohol or prescription drug abuse, as well.

Volk said the lab had done at least 15 tests in the 60 days they'd been
offering the kits. She said marijuana is the drug that is most commonly
suspected, followed by opiates (the category that includes heroin). Volk
indicated that a majority of the tests returned positive results.

"Most parents that suspect are close to being on the money," she said.

Many of the parents who have come forward looking for tests are parents
whose children would not have been in the population that was randomly
selected for the tests, Volk said, but rather parents of kids who asked the
school to include their child in the group when the school was still
conducting the tests.

"At the point when the appellate court didn't uphold the random drug
screening, the parents that put their children in that program were without
any place to go, literally," Volk said. "That was one of my primary reasons
to let the communities know they have a place to turn."

Volk said she thought random testing policies were not a violation of
rights, as long as they were handled properly.

"I know it's a very strong issue," Volk said. "If I were a parent and
sometimes I suspected, sometimes it's that push that gets a child help. If
you save one child that's better than losing 10."