OPINIONS DIFFER ON HOME DRUG TEST KITS

Kendra Wetterland didn't mind all that much when her mom decided to
start testing her for pot smoking with a home test kit from a store.

"I didn't understand why she would do that if she knew I was using,
but it showed she cared," said the 16-year-old from Gig Harbor, Wash.

Trouble was, Kendra was smoking pot at the time, but the tests her
mother administered twice a month never gave a positive result. She is
now in treatment for methamphetamine use.

Home drug testing kits became available to parents after the Food and
Drug Administration approved them six years ago and have proved
popular not only at retailers but through scores of sites on the
Internet. They are even being sold to parents by police departments in
some cities.

But recently, a new study of the kits available online concluded that
they can be unreliable. Plus, many don't offer concerned parents
enough information to accurately administer a test. And most overly
emphasize the unproven claim that regular testing by parents offers a
child an excuse to give peers who pressure them to try drugs,
researchers at Children's Hospital in Boston reported.

"Laboratory testing for drugs of abuse is a technically challenging
procedure, even for medical professionals," wrote the researchers.
They also found information in some kits inconsistent and confusing
about what drugs they were intended to detect.

"In addition, none of the sites described the different stages of drug
use or gave parents insight into the different treatment needs for an
experimental user versus a teen with a diagnosis of abuse or
dependency," they wrote.

Most important, parents who use home drug tests can jeopardize the
vital trust relationship with their child, the researchers warned.

Some who sell drug test kits over the Internet also sell the means to
outsmart them, researchers found.

Parents who have dealt with drug use by their children give mixed
reviews to the idea of home drug testing.

Without the benefit of the researchers' insights, some believe it
could be an aid to parents.

"I think the home tests are good. It at least gives you a starting
point," said Robert Gardner, whose 15-year-old son, Chris Kurtz,
started treatment after confessing his marijuana dependency.

Gardner did not test Chris for drugs, but learned of his problem after
Chris started getting into trouble with the law and missing school.

Dawn, whose daughter was suspended from high school for drugs and
found to be using methamphetamine at 17, said confirming it with a
home test wouldn't have been much help.

"What would I have done with the results?" said Dawn, who asked that
her last name not be used to protect her family's privacy.