FREE TEEN DRUG TESTS MAY SPREAD IN STATE

Molalla's 2-Year-Old Program, Thought To Be Unique In The United States, Is
Attracting Attention In 10 Other Cities

Wednesday, July 7, 1999

MOLALLA -- A Molalla Police Department program that encourages parents to
bring in their children for free drug testing is likely to be expanded to
10 other Oregon cities this year.

State and national police groups say the test, a urinalysis that detects
four families of drugs in less than 15 minutes, might be the first free
drug testing administered by police in the United States. Molalla Police
Chief Rob Elkins considers the program a success: in 1998, 59 of the 67
children brought in by parents tested positive.

Although police in Molalla say participants won't be prosecuted or tracked
by authorities, critics see distinct flaws with such testing. Civil rights
advocates fear police might use positive results against participants in
the future, while independent testing laboratories question the accuracy of
the tests, which yield almost immediate results.

The Oregon State Police and the Oregon State Sheriff's Association have
endorsed the program. The Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police in April
voted to help expand the testing to 10 other cities and will pay the cost
of $10 per test for the pilot program.

Parents and their children must sign waivers acknowledging that the test
results are confidential.

David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Oregon, said he hopes those waivers are "iron clad."

Fidanque said the tests are "putting law enforcement in the position to
ignore information." He said he doesn't think government should play a role
in drug testing.

"I think it ought to be between kids, families and their doctors," he said.
"Parents should not expect the government to be parents to their kids."

Molalla Juvenile Officer Cam Steigleder meets with both parents and their
children after their tests to refer them to professional counseling or drug
treatment, if necessary. She says police keep waivers on file for one year
for statistical purposes only.

Mother tests son out of concern A Molalla mother who had her teen-age son
tested after the boy's behavior escalated to vandalism defended the
program, even though her son tested negative. The Oregonian is withholding
the names of the mother and her son because he is a juvenile.

"I knew that if I didn't get help, they would see him in the system," the
woman said. "I was hoping there was a reason for his change in behavior."

The boy, who admits his behavior was destructive and is now enrolled in an
alternative school, said he agreed to the test to prove to his mother that
he wasn't using drugs.

"I think she should just believe me," he said. "She didn't trust me."

The Roche Diagnostic "TestCup" used by Molalla police requires 30
milliliters of urine and detects cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates such as
heroin, morphine and other pain relievers, and tetrahydrocannabinol, the
active ingredient in marijuana.

The tests results are as accurate as those done in laboratories, said
Audrey Hennefer, a Roche senior account manager.

But other laboratories in the Portland area say the results shouldn't be
completely trusted.

"All those tests should be confirmed by a lab when they are positive," said
Jim Lanson, a technician at Public Service Laboratories Inc. in Tigard.

John Bissell, director of Analytical Systems Inc. in Portland, said parents
must also be aware that over-the-counter medications and some foods could
skew test results, and that parents should request a confirmation test if
they receive positive results.

Both Bissell and Lanson said their firms would charge $27.50 to test for
the four categories of drugs tested in Molalla.

Molalla Sought Faster Results

The Molalla program began in 1997, when Elkins approached the Oregon State
Police about the agency's drug-testing program in Coos Bay. Parents there
can deliver their children's urine to police for testing. The tests cost
$17 each and results can take a day or longer.

Elkins and his staff adapted the state police program so parents could
bring in their children to police headquarters for free tests that yield
results within 15 minutes.

"We're in the sad reality of being in the same boat as everybody else" when
it comes to teen drug use, Elkins said of the town of 5,400, located about
30 miles south of Portland.

Since Molalla adopted the program two years ago, police in the towns of
Ontario and Sutherlin have begun similar testing. But the ACLU and police
groups contacted for this story say they're unaware of any other free,
police-administered programs in the United States.

Legal experts say precedent seems to support such testing. The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled in 1995 that schools could force athletes to submit to random
drug tests, a case that began when a 12-year-old boy sued the Vernonia
School District over its rule requiring drug tests. The seventh-grader,
James Acton, later lost the case on appeal.

William Funk, a constitutional law professor at Northwestern School of Law
of Lewis & Clark College said that in Oregon, the state's interests
outweigh a child's privacy rights.

Kimberly Fidler, 15, of Colton, supports the program, though she said, "I'm
pretty sure 95 percent of the drug users would think it's an invasion of
privacy."

Paula McLain and Dionicia Rowe, both 14 and freshmen at Molalla High
School, said they have classmates whose parents have paid for testing after
suspecting drug abuse. McLain said her friend's mother "just doesn't trust
her" and said the test results were negative.

Molalla parent Tina Dickinson said she likes the option of having her
children tested for drugs.

"I'd rather them hate me than be dead."