TAKE-HOME TEST

WHEN PARENTS DECIDE TO SCREEN FOR DRUGS

From cook to chauffeur, confidant to adviser, bank-teller to alarm clock,
parents play many roles in the lives of their children.

But what happens when parental influence extends beyond making sure you eat
right and pass gym? What if, at any given moment, your parents could test
you for drugs? The possibility is as real as your local drug store.

Tests such as the At Home Drug Test and KwickTest are both inexpensive and
easily accessible.

For example, At Home's single-drug tests -- for cocaine or marijuana --
sell for $14.95; the multi-drug test -- which tests for amphetamines,
methamphetamines, ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine and opiates -- is $29.95.

About 10,000 At Home tests are sold each week in the United States at
places like Walgreens, Rite Aid and drugstore.com, according to At Home
maker Phamatech.

How The Tests Work

The tests work in similar ways -- by testing urine. The At Home test, for
instance, is a credit-card sized device dipped into a urine sample. Results
come back "negative" or "preliminary" in 10 minutes. Preliminary results
are sent to a laboratory for further testing. After five to 10 days,
parents can call to find out which drugs, if any, their child tested
positive for. Results are kept confidential.

The convenience and privacy of home testing still raise concerns, including
the potentially negative effects on parent-child relationships.

"It's more damaging than helpful to the relationships between parents and
kids," said Molly Pearson, a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School, "because
their trust is broken, their credibility is lost, and the kids resent their
parents."

Sophomore Haley Knapp of Gunn High School in Palo Alto agrees, "I would be
angry if they did that to me. I would feel like they didn't trust me."

But some experts say the tests can be a good thing. Dr. Gail Prichard, a
psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Stanford
University School of Medicine, said she has evaluated students who've had
to take these tests and has seen how they can be an effective tool.

Students Curtail Use

"These students have definitely curtailed their drug use or stopped
altogether," Prichard said. "Because their parents were testing, they could
push back on peer pressure and stay clean."

Still, she acknowledged, not all outcomes are positive.

"Sometimes parents feel afraid when their teens are ready for more
independence," Prichard said. "Occasionally there are really well-adjusted
kids who just have (inept) parents and then the testing can be very
hurtful, breaking down lines of communication."

Prichard isn't the only one who is concerned that some parents might view
home testing as a panacea for teenage drug abuse.

"To just go out and buy a drug test to test your kids instead of having the
talk about it is putting the cart before the horse," said Ralph J. Castro,
manager of the Alcohol and Drug Education Center at Stanford University's
Vaden Health Center.

"Parents should be proactive instead of being reactive," he said. "From the
day that they're born you start establishing that relationship with your kids."

But these tests are also being advertised and marketed as a way to deter
any potential drug use. Even Pearson, the student at Menlo-Atherton High
who felt uneasy about the test, agrees that it might force some teens to
reconsider their actions.

"It will make them think twice before doing drugs," Pearson said.