PACS' KITS NEW PARENTAL AID

PACS Is Putting Home Drug-Testing Kits In The Hands Of Peninsula Parents.

Peace Arch Community Services' Kevin Letourneau said the $15 kits will help
answer nagging questions for parents wondering if their children are using
drugs. The urine-based test will tell parents in five minutes if their
child is using marijuana, cocaine, morphine, amphetamines, or angel dust (PCP).

They can also test for nicotine and alcohol.

"It really takes the pressure off of the parents," Letourneau, PACS'
manager of addiction services, said.

"You can flag (drug use) at the beginning."

Letourneau has worked for years to make the kits available here. He said
parents who suspect that drugs are behind changes in their child's
behaviour, falling grades and social network, wanted a way of finding out
for sure.

Those parents, he said, weren't satisfied with the answers they got from
simply asking their children about drug use.

"We have youth who swear on their grandparent's grave they're not using
drugs, and they're lying," Letourneau said.

Quick and affordable resources for parents are few. Drug testing kits are
not available at drug stores. Tests are offered through B.C. Biomedical
Laboratories, only with a doctor's referral, and cost $60.

Denning Health Group also offers screening with a doctor's referral, or
referral from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. That cost is
at least $80.

The PACS' kits range in price from $6 to $15. They can test for a single
drug, or for up to five drugs from one urine sample.

Letourneau admits it's "kind of controversial." However, experience tells
him those who refuse often have something to hide.

Dave Powell, in Grade 11 at Semiahmoo Secondary, agreed.

"Unless you're doing drugs, most people would (submit to a test to) prove
their parents wrong," he said.

While he'd be offended if his parents wanted to test him, he'd go along
with it.

Even though she doesn't do drugs, Melody Wilson would not submit to a drug
test for her parents.

"It's none of their business," the Grade 11 student said.

"It's private. What I do in my own spare time is my business."

School liaison officer Const. Mike Elston said anything that helps parents
keep children off drugs is a "great tool...if it's something that will work
for their family.

"It's based on the relationship with their kid," he said.

"Some parents, they're not going to go for it."

He knows of others who have used random testing for years as an incentive
for their child. One family offered their son the family car upon
graduation if he stays clean through high school.

"Everyone's going to be different."

Letourneau said his goal was to make the kits available. It's up to parents
if they want to access them.

For more information, call 604-538-2522.