COULD YOU PASS A DRUG TEST?

Welcome to a world where your parents can hand you a urine sample cup when
you slip in just after curfew.

They can test your saliva for alcohol, see if you have been smoking and
test your urine for drug use -- all in the privacy of your home.

The same technology that has introduced at-home tests marketed for
diabetes, colon cancer, cholesterol, HIV and even Alzheimer's disease has
also introduced ways to check for drugs and alcohol.

For $20 to $100, the tests are designed to give results in minutes. Some
Internet brands are as low as $9.95.

And if the possibility of your parents buying a kit at the local drugstore
sounds impossible, consider that the kits are growing leaps and bounds in
popularity.

Ken Adams started his own Internet company, www.homedrug-test.com, which
distributes tests under the name Home Health Testing.

His Grand Rapids, Mich.-based business is growing by 30 percent a year.

Tests involving urine are still the most popular, but Adams said new tests
use hair samples and can back track 90 days to detect the use of cocaine.

Adams said home tests for alcohol and drugs first emerged about five years
ago. He started his business four years ago and marketed products to
businesses, juvenile courts and drug counselors. He has since watched as
the popularity has soared among home users.

"I think most of it is people becoming aware of it," he said. "I see that
doing nothing but expanding."

Currently, his brand is used to test for eight different narcotic drugs and
for tobacco.

A local check of drug stores shows home drug tests available at a few
stores like Eckerd's on Raeford Road. Others like the CVS on Bragg
Boulevard did not carry the tests for narcotics.

Sharon Snider, a spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration, said the
tests carrying the FDA seal are accurate.

However, she said some of the tests being marketed have not been studied by
the FDA.

The FDA doesn't keep a running number of approved tests, but does list some
of the companies that have passed lab trials on its website, www.fda.gov.

Phamatech, which markets the at home Drug Test, has been approved and is in
stock at the Eckerd's on Raeford Road.

The FDA noted the popularity of the tests in a recent story in its FDA
Consumer magazine, which also encourages users to back up information from
tests with a doctor.