LOCK OF HAIR UNLOCKS TEEN DRUG HABITS

Parents Can See If Kids Are Raiding Medicine Cabinet

(CNS) - As if it isn't enough for parents to worry about whether
their teenager is using marijuana, cocaine or crystal meth, a new
drug-testing kit presents parents with the option of testing their
children for prescription drug use, too.

With a quick snip or a clump of hair, parents can find out within
days whether a child has dipped into the family medicine cabinet, has
tried cocaine in the past three months, uses crystal meth on the
weekends, or is taking painkillers on a daily basis.

"Prescription drugs are so accessible to kids. They're in the
medicine cabinet, so they don't really think it's dangerous for
them," said Zeynep Ilgaz, president and co-founder of Confirm
BioSciences, the California-based maker of the home drug-testing kits.

"Kids think it's a safe way to get high because they're not illegal."
Ilgaz said prescription drug abuse, particularly of OxyContin and
Vicodin, is on the rise in the United States.

There are few Canadian statistics on the number of people who abuse
prescription drugs, but the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse says
available evidence suggests Canadians are among the heaviest
consumers of psychotropic medication in the world.

And a recent study found indications that non-medicinal use of
prescription opioids is increasingly replacing heroin.

The drug-testing kit tests hair for seven illicit drugs and five
prescription drugs, including Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet and Dilaudid.

The company requires 80 to 100 strands of hair for the test, which
will show how much of each drug has been consumed in the past three
months. "We want it to be cut as close to the root as possible,
definitely not pulled out. That would definitely hurt," Ilgaz said.

A version of the test that did not include prescription drugs was
made available in Canada in late 2007.

The new version was made available in Canada in December, and Ilgaz
says it is selling well.