PARENTS CLIPPING TEENS' HAIR TO SUBMIT FOR DRUG TESTING

Get A Job. Get A Haircut. And Oh, Give Me The Hair

Parents who've spent years telling their kids, "Don't run with
scissors!" may soon be doing just that, thanks to the new HairConfirm
kit.

It claims to offer a "cheat-proof" way to establish with 99.9 per cent
accuracy whether your teen is taking drugs or sneaking your
prescription painkillers.

By simply clipping and shipping off 70 to 80 strands of your child's
hair, cut as close to the roots as possible, San Diego-based Confirm
BioSciences promises to deliver results - be they negative or positive
- - within a couple of business days.

"We've had husbands and wives testing each other. We've seen the kit
used in custody battles to prove that one party is abusing drugs.
We've even had people test themselves before they go to a drug test,"
Zeynep Ilgaz, president and co-founder of Confirm BioSciences, said in
a telephone interview from San Diego.

"But mostly it's parents testing their kids" - with the exception of
about 10 per cent "who just put (the box) on the kitchen counter as a
warning sign," said Ilgaz.

About a year ago the company started selling a "standard" home-test
kit for $64.99 U.S. in stores and via the Internet. It can detect
seven drugs - including marijuana, amphetamines, ecstasy and cocaine -
as well as how heavily they've been used in the last 90 days.

But it recently launched a new kit, largely at the urging of parents
who suspect their kids are dipping into pills in the family medicine
cabinet - mainly pain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, said
Ilgaz. Selling for $89.99 U.S., it tests for seven illicit drugs and
five of the most popular pills among teens.

She touts the hair-test kit as superior to urine home-test kits, which
have been fairly widely available for years. The urine tests make
cheating easier and only detect drugs used in the previous three to
five days, Ilgaz said. She likens them to pregnancy tests which simply
give a negative or positive result, saying they don't indicate the
severity of the drug use.

While parents have lauded the hair tests as an important new weapon in
the fight against drugs - one parent went so far as to salute the
tests as a potential "lifesaver" - even Ilgaz doesn't recommend giving
your kids a bad haircut while they're sleeping.

"Nothing can replace communication. Your kids have to agree to be part
of this. You can't do it behind their back," said Ilgaz. "You want to
do it as part of a whole drug prevention effort within the household."

Dr. Claire Crooks agrees that talking is more important than testing,
after having spent years working with kids and families struggling
with drug addiction as a clinical psychologist with the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health.

"It's kind of like reading your child's diary or searching their
room," said Crooks. "Parental monitoring is really important - but
that means having enough of a relationship with your child that you
know who their friends are and what they're involved in and where
they're going to be. This is closing the barn door after the horses
are out.

"I certainly understand the desperation families can feel," said
Crooks, "but this doesn't sound helpful in promoting a trusting and
warm relationship."