Alice and I have been drug testing Ed and Norton at home for several years. The point of home drug testing is about knowing the information that we need to make good parental decisions concerning our teens. For example, "Is our teen just being a teenager, having a medical issue, or is she using drugs?" The answer to that would mean a drastically different approach to helping your son or daughter.
Ed and Norton would often lie about their drug use. In the early days, that was confusing to Alice and I, because we were led down a path by manipulation. Then when we did start drug testing at home, it was hard because we were accused of not trusting them, and Ed and Norton found several creative ways "cheat" on the tests. But, if we had it to do over again, I'm sure that we would still start home drug testing as soon as we suspected or knew of problems. The tests avoid the fuzzy decision making, some manipulations, and sometimes false accusations.
We have used mostly urine test "cards" or "sticks" that need less than an ounce of urine and about 5 minutes to react and dry. We have also used the saliva tests. For us, the urine cards were easier and less expensive. We've also found that the accuracy of the cards is way above what you need for a home test. If the reagent turns a color, even lightly, that is close enough that your teen has passed. A little bit of drug goes a long way to keep the reagent colorless.
The test sticks cost roughly $1 to $2 per drug tested, and come in 1- to 12-drug test cards. There are tests for most drugs, except the Spice/K2 fake incense and artificial cannaboids and the newer "bath salts" drug concoctions. Depending upon the drug and the amount used, you can catch many drugs for up to 2 weeks after last use with these sticks. This is enough that statistically, you can catch all drug use with just a weekly drug screen, and be pretty sure with a bi-weekly test. Alcohol is a little tougher. You will need to catch it within a few hours to 2 days, and I only know of saliva tests for it. Hopefully someone with more knowledge about alcohol tests can comment to this post.
Remember this rule: "If you refuse to take the test, you are dirty/fail the test." You will probably need it. Also, as I mentioned, Ed and Norton were very good at cheating on these tests at first. You will need to make sure that your teen has no access to water, liquids, or other solid contaminates during the sample collection.
Test cards and other test equipment can be obtained from three different types of locations, depending upon your preference and comfort. First, some local drug stores have test kits available at the store. These cost a little more, but for non-regular testing, if you can find the test you desire, it is easy to pick one up while you're doing normal shopping.
The second source is a local company. Jim Musiol of DTx (One Step Detect Associates) in Jefferson Hills visited a PSST meeting in May 2010. You can buy the same cards and kits from their office or from their web site:
One Step Detect Associates
1474 Route 51
Jefferson Hills, PA 15025
1-888-822-7120
http://www.1stepdtx.com/
Finally, a family-owned mail order company in Maria Stein, Ohio called Test Medical Symptoms will ship an order out, arriving in just a few days in a plain brown box. They have telephone and web-based ordering. There are discounts for web ordering and sometimes sales of soon-to-expire tests.
http://www.testsymptomsathome.com/
1-888-595-3136
Above all, Good Luck! It is not easy to parent teens with addiction, and hopefully you can find a way to make home drug screening a tool to help you and your teen to "keep it real", as Alice and I did.
Ed and Norton would often lie about their drug use. In the early days, that was confusing to Alice and I, because we were led down a path by manipulation. Then when we did start drug testing at home, it was hard because we were accused of not trusting them, and Ed and Norton found several creative ways "cheat" on the tests. But, if we had it to do over again, I'm sure that we would still start home drug testing as soon as we suspected or knew of problems. The tests avoid the fuzzy decision making, some manipulations, and sometimes false accusations.
We have used mostly urine test "cards" or "sticks" that need less than an ounce of urine and about 5 minutes to react and dry. We have also used the saliva tests. For us, the urine cards were easier and less expensive. We've also found that the accuracy of the cards is way above what you need for a home test. If the reagent turns a color, even lightly, that is close enough that your teen has passed. A little bit of drug goes a long way to keep the reagent colorless.
The test sticks cost roughly $1 to $2 per drug tested, and come in 1- to 12-drug test cards. There are tests for most drugs, except the Spice/K2 fake incense and artificial cannaboids and the newer "bath salts" drug concoctions. Depending upon the drug and the amount used, you can catch many drugs for up to 2 weeks after last use with these sticks. This is enough that statistically, you can catch all drug use with just a weekly drug screen, and be pretty sure with a bi-weekly test. Alcohol is a little tougher. You will need to catch it within a few hours to 2 days, and I only know of saliva tests for it. Hopefully someone with more knowledge about alcohol tests can comment to this post.
Remember this rule: "If you refuse to take the test, you are dirty/fail the test." You will probably need it. Also, as I mentioned, Ed and Norton were very good at cheating on these tests at first. You will need to make sure that your teen has no access to water, liquids, or other solid contaminates during the sample collection.
Test cards and other test equipment can be obtained from three different types of locations, depending upon your preference and comfort. First, some local drug stores have test kits available at the store. These cost a little more, but for non-regular testing, if you can find the test you desire, it is easy to pick one up while you're doing normal shopping.
The second source is a local company. Jim Musiol of DTx (One Step Detect Associates) in Jefferson Hills visited a PSST meeting in May 2010. You can buy the same cards and kits from their office or from their web site:
One Step Detect Associates
1474 Route 51
Jefferson Hills, PA 15025
1-888-822-7120
http://www.1stepdtx.com/
Finally, a family-owned mail order company in Maria Stein, Ohio called Test Medical Symptoms will ship an order out, arriving in just a few days in a plain brown box. They have telephone and web-based ordering. There are discounts for web ordering and sometimes sales of soon-to-expire tests.
http://www.testsymptomsathome.com/
1-888-595-3136
Above all, Good Luck! It is not easy to parent teens with addiction, and hopefully you can find a way to make home drug screening a tool to help you and your teen to "keep it real", as Alice and I did.
3 comments:
Great post Ralph. This can be the place that we all share thoughts so that this can be a work-in-progress or required reading if you will.
Randomness is important. Parents can surprise teenagers with testing easier than Probation Officers can. Probation Officers are busy and scheduling with clients is important. Anyone who knows exactly when they will be drug tested can beat a test in several different ways. The most effective way to beat a drug test is to consume lots of water within a few hours of the test. If you don't let your teenager know when you are testing they can't do this.
Secondly, buy the cups too. Watch the temperature gauge. If it doesn't heat up something is very wrong. Fresh urine is hot.
You might believe that your teen has no access to water to dilute the sample but teens are very clever. I'm going to include a link to a youtube video that makes this point but keep in mind that this is one of many youtube videos. Youtube is one of the best ways to educate yourself about drug testing. It's exactly where you teenager is going to go to learn how to beat a drug test. Just go to youtube and put this in the search window: how to pass a drug test.
Click here for an example of one of these videos. I'm not endorsing any of them but all of them are good teaching agents.
Last, remember that drug testing is no substitute for observing your teens behavior and for collecting your own evidence. We cannot test for some drugs. Teens are clever and can beat us on drug tests sometimes. Is your teenager going through behavior change? Has your teenager's attitude changed? Is he in contact with old friends? Have you searched his room lately? Have you scanned his texts on his phone? Mind you, privacy is important too. If you teenager hasn't given you reasons to be suspicious then try just trusting him; however, if your "parent-sense" is tingling, then start to gather evidence.
Oops. My first comment said "click here" but you can't. I guess I can't include links in the comments section. Just put this in your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91knqnsu_hU&feature=related
Your teen may never buy the actual Whiz Kit but this video is educational nevertheless!
Ralph,
Thanks for this informative post. I myself have purchased cups, thc tests and oral swab tests on-line from One Step Detect Associates. And when I wanted a 12 drug test in a hurry I've gotten those from Rite Aid and K-Mart.
The only problems I have had are with the oral tests. I don't think Bam Bam had them saturated enough and both times when I used them I broke handle on the test wand.
Bam Bam has actually refused drug tests in court and treatment opting for the positive result.
Wilma
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