Using a Home Drug Test: Home Drug Tests Saving Lives?

By Dr. Deb Carlin

Imagine that your son or daughter comes in late at night acting REALLY strange and denies the influence of substances. You're not trained to recognize all the signs of drug use or symptoms of drug use. Like most parents, you might not know what methamphetamine, cocaine, or heroin breath smells like and don't know what, if anything, you're dealing with.

Your parenting decisions are only as sound as the facts on which they're based and you can't make the best decisions on what to do next without knowing the truth. Without home drug tests in the house, getting the truth can be be tough. You probably don't want to call your family doctor at 2 in the morning. However, you don't want your teen to go to bed and risk an overdose either.

In my opinion, it is a mistake to underestimate the power of simply having a home drug test kit present. First, if a teen knows that mom and dad have home drug test kits in the house and can use them at any time, then teens might make different choices when offered drugs by friends in the first place.

Second, I'm not suggesting that parents coerce teens who might be under the influence to take home drug tests. That could be a terrible idea. If a parent-child contract (or similar agreement) has been set up and agreed to by both parties in advance, then coercion is totally unnecessary. As it should be agreed to in advance, a refusal to test will earn a teenager the consequences of a positive test result and the teen should accept the responsibility for their actions.

If you fail to get honesty from your teen or a drug-free test sample to put your fears to rest, and things still seem REALLY strange, then that might be the evidence you need to justify a trip to the emergency room. Then again, there might not be anything to worry about and an overreaction can be avoided because you planned ahead and used your access to your home drug tests and the leverage they provide.

If used properly, home drug tests are tools that can help reduce the likelihood of teen drug use reaching addiction. Realize that both non-users and non-addicted (but experimenting) teens can benefit from home drug tests because they can use them as a socially acceptable excuse to reject peer pressure.

If you want to know more about using home drug tests or picking out the best home drug test for your teen, or the steps to starting a home drug testing program, additional resources are available at TestMyTeen.com including program checklists, counselor approved strategies and free video tutorials.