POLICE OFFER FREE DRUG-TESTING KITS FOR IN-HOME USE

Police in three Chicago-area communities--Vernon Hills, Winthrop Harbor and
Park Forest--have begun a controversial new program in which they hand out
drug-testing kits to parents who think their children might be using drugs.

Police say the program's intent is to bring families closer together, but
teenagers and family counseling experts say it might have the opposite
result.

"I feel it violates my rights," said 17-year-old Joel Muller of Vernon
Hills, who said parents should instead talk to their kids about drugs.

"I think kids will rebel against (drug testing). They will be more distant
and feel less related to the parent," said Lake County psychologist Mark
Solomon, a specialist in adolescent therapy for more than 10 years. But, he
added, if a child's health or safety appears to be at risk, then parents
might want to consider the drug test as a last resort.

Police departments in Sterling and Geneseo in western Illinois also are
giving away the kits.

The new policing strategy has come under fire from the Illinois branch of
the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU spokesman William Spain said
though dispensing the testing kits by police is not unconstitutional, the
departments should not encourage families to use a product that the ACLU
considers invasive.

"It is at the very least unusual for a professional law enforcement agency
to promote a product that not only promotes a degrading procedure, but is
unreliable and inaccurate," Spain said.

According to John Rorabeck, a forensic analyst for the Lake County
coroner's office, urine drug-screening tests are accurate between 85
percent and 97 percent of the time, with the balance providing a
false-positive or false-negative reading.

Solomon also discourages parents from using the kits.

Solomon said the tests give parents "an illusory sense of
control" over their children. He too recommended that parents instead try
talking to their kids about drugs.

Despite the controversy, police and many parents still believe the drug
tests can be a useful tool.

"Parents have to know that their children are being honest with them,"

said Vernon Hills Police Chief Gary Kupsak. "If they suspect that Johnny or
Jeannie are doing drugs, maybe here's a way to remove any doubt.

"They can put the kit on top of the refrigerator and say, `There it is. If
you have any ideas, and we have suspicions, we're going to get you tested.'
"

Kupsak said he learned about the testing kits at a law enforcement
conference in January, when he saw them on display in an exhibition booth.
Impressed by the concept, he decided to order 100 kits from the
manufacturer, Sensor Technologies Corp. in Glendale Heights.

The tests, which cost the police $7.95 each, contain a urine-collection
bottle, confidential ID numbers and instruction booklet. They are taken
home for private testing, and the urine sample is mailed to a lab for
analysis, which costs the family $29.95.

Proof of residence is required to pick up the kit from the Vernon Hills
police, but no names are documented. Police stress that the entire process
is confidential, and that they're not interested in the results. Their only
intention, they say, is to help build trust within families.

"It restores honesty and trust to a family that's desperate for it," said
Mike Baber, social services director for the Vernon Hills police.

"This is only for the family here."

Whether parents actually use the kits remains to be seen. No one has yet
picked one up in Vernon Hills, and Park Forest police have handed out just
one unit. Winthrop Harbor begins its program Friday, when it will offer the
drug-testing kits at the village's annual Kids Fun Fair.

Meanwhile, young people are already vowing to refuse to take the test.

When a group of students at Libertyville High School recently learned about
the new policing strategy, they rebelled.

"It's a total invasion of privacy," said 15-year-old Cheryl Robinson of
Vernon Hills, who added that she would refuse to take a drug test if her
parents asked her. "It's a matter of principle," Robinson said.

"If (my mother) doesn't trust me, then I won't take it."

But many parents in Vernon Hills and Park Forest argue they may have a
right to mistrust their children, especially when it comes to drug use.
They contend the drug-testing kits will offer families peace of mind, as
well as help detecting drug use early on.

"I don't know that you can count on your children to be fully honest about
(drugs)," said Vernon Hills resident Pat Lenhoff, who has three children,
including one in high school.

"Early detection can save them from bad things happening to them down the
road."

Bonnie Ayleshire, a Park Forest parent who has children in elementary
school, high school and college, said she would be willing to keep a
drug-testing kit in her home. She said she strongly doubts that any of her
kids use drugs, "but you just never know."

"If you think your kid is on drugs, here's a way to find out for sure.

There's no goofing around," Ayleshire said. Besides, she added, "The kids
need all the help they can get these days."

Park Forest Director of Police Robert Maeyama said his department is
relying on juvenile officers to contact parents who might not know a child
is using drugs. Any parent, however, can pick up a free kit at the police
station.

"We're just trying to aid parents in reducing their kids activity with
drugs," he said.

MORE ON THE INTERNET: For message board on the drug-testing kit
controversy, visit chicago.tribune.com/go/Libertyville