Drug Kits

TESTING SHOULD BE UP TO PARENTS, NOT GOVERNMENT

Ferndale police and several other Michigan law enforcement agencies
are experimenting with helping parents detect drug use without going
so far as the flawed school drug testing plan pushed by the Bush
administration.

The police are placing the power where it belongs, in the hands of
parents, allowing them to anonymously purchase drug testing kits.
There is merit here, if only because it's a good use of money seized
in drug raids. Still, parents should weigh the unintended consequences
before buying in.

For three to five dollars, parents can end any guessing about how well
Johnny is succeeding at saying no to marijuana, alcohol or nicotine.
In Ferndale, a $15 test also offers the truth about more deadly drugs
such as cocaine and methamphetamines.

On paper, it is money well spent if it shields just one parent from
the torment of suspecting a child is using drugs or worse, relapsing.

But it's no more a silver bullet than national drug czar John Walters'
school testing idea. Randomly subjecting a child to this level of
scrutiny should be a last resort, backed by reasonable evidence --
wafts of alcohol, drops in grades, bouts of depression. And it should
not be imposed by the government, as is the case with Walters' plan.

The abundance of drugs flowing from street corners into schools and
schoolyards sure makes the temptation to plunk down five dollars
understandable.

"How does a parent ever really know?" said Norman Raymond, the
Ferndale police detective leading the drug kit effort. "The kits offer
a measure of certainty."

The same thing used to be said about old-fashioned firm parenting.