LETTER OF THE WEEK

CHANCES OF FALSE POSITIVE TOO HIGH

My applause to the enlightened Galena High School parents who voted
against mandatory random drug testing.

The legal issues here, although disturbing, are not my area of
expertise and I'll refrain from comment. As an analytical chemist
whose career was largely devoted to drug analysis, I do feel
qualified to make the following comments:

Drug testing is not something that should be placed in the hands of
bureaucratic amateurs. All screening tests can produce false
positives and, depending on the manufacturer, some more than others.
Rather than counseling, a positive result for a screening test
requires a more rigorous confirmatory test, usually
GCMS. Additionally, there are tests to confirm the integrity of the
sample to check for adulteration, dilution for example.

I seriously doubt that all of this, if done right, can be achieved
for $40. For such testing to hold up, it should be performed in an
accredited laboratory where control results are included. The
possibility that even one student could have a young life upended
with a false positive result is enough for me as a Galena parent to vote no.

Marian Pettibone

Reno

Pubdate: Mon, 31 Aug 2009

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n000/a173.html

Note: From the newspaper's website "Marian Pettibone of Reno is this
week's winner of the Silver Pen award for the best letter published
in the Gazette-Journal during the previous week. Weekly Silver Pen
winners are selected by the newspaper's editorial board based on the
quality of writing, clarity of expression and strength of opinion."