JnEverett

Study: Parents willing to give teens drug test
10-26-06 l Detroit Free Press l Cassandra Spratling

A majority of parents of teens are willing to ask them to take a home drug test, according to a recently released survey from the nonprofit drug-prevention group, notMyKid.

Two-thirds of parents of teenagers are willing to ask their child to take a home drug test as a prevention method according to the survey of 2,064 adults nationwide.

It also applauds parents for being proactive in talking regularly with their children about the perils of drug abuse.

“It is our responsibility as parents to do everything in our power to protect our children from the perils of drug abuse, and we believe that fostering greater communication between parents and their children coupled with utilization of a home drug test are the keys to preventing drug abuse and addiction,” said Debbie Moak, co-founder of notMYkid.

“This survey underscores that parents realize the importance of early communications with their children and are open to the use of a home drug test to keep their children safe and drug free.”

The vast majority of parents talk to their kids about drug abuse on a weekly or monthly basis, the survey says.

It also found that a quarter of parents either have not had those discussions at all or did not begin discussions until their children were in high school.

This survey is part of notMYkid’s activities around Red Ribbon Week, which began this week and ends Oct. 31. It focuses on educating parents and supporting ways to prevent youth from using illegal drugs or legal drugs illegally.

notMYkid has received funding from an at-home drug test manufacturer as part of a program to encourage parental involvement, including home testing, in drug abuse prevention.

^_^truth

And here we see a step towards justifying drug tests.

The more we premit people, even parents of teenagers, to push drug tests onto someone, even their own childern, we are enforcing the idea that drug tests are a normal thing that everyone should submit to.

Granted, as a youth you are under your parent's whims, but when communication is sublimented with drug tests...I would claim their is a problem brewing at home.

Parents should just be talking to their kids and have confidenece that their kids will make "good" decisions. I know, when I was a teenager if my parents threatend to do this to me I would have objected and underminded the whole concept by either using a trick to pass the test, or openly fail them every time and yet show my success in everything else in my life.

Drug tests at home are a good excuse for bad parenting.

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Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Nietzsche

Buzzby

The problem here is that a drug test doesn't detect whether or not a person is a drug abuser. All it does is identify drug users. As a parent (and former teenager) it's obvious to me that minors are going to experiment with drugs. That being the case, I'd much rather have my child smoke a little pot than go out and get drunk. Simply put, marijuana is a much safer drug than alcohol.

Parents do need to talk to their children about the use of intoxicants. They need to let them know that such things are a part of life and can be used in life-enhancing or destructive ways. They need to talk about the benefits and dangers of each drug, emphasize that excessive use of any drug is not a good thing, and let their kids know that they can talk about such things without having Mom and Dad freak out and put them in a treatment program.

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ssj3gotenks

You know, i'm 100% honest when i say this (i'm not kissing @$$) but I always agree with what Buzzby says, and with that said I always look foward to seeing responses. And on that note, I am definately more of a reader on this board than a writer but will say something when i really feel like doing so.

But anyway, the thing that is so awesome is how true this is.

First of all, let me say that talking about dangers of drugs with your kids is most appropriate. Let me say it like this, I never hear about a 14 year old getting arrested for have unprotected sex with another 14 year old. But what would you rather hear about: your child smoking a joint with some friends and hitting up Taco Bell, or finding out your child has AIDS, herpes, etc.

Secondly, wtg Buzzby also about mentioning treatment centers. In fact, many of my previous posts discuss this on a further matter, but really tend to point towards the direction of harm that can be done. In fact, in my huge metropolitain area, i hear more and more about parents calling there kids drug addicts when mj was the only thing involved. Furthermore, it can be rediculous, so rediculous that one who has smoked an 1/8th of dank mj a week (which really is nothing) having to undergo absurd "treatment". I once new a girl (really hot btw, lol) who's parents brought her into treatment and as a result all sorts of crap happened.

But for yalls information, here are some things that happen to these people
1. Dropped out of school
2. Having to work at jobs that don't may much at all
3. Going right back to the dope!
4. Negative personality changes
5. the worst one, IMO, taking on new addictions, which tend to be three things: Caffeine, Nicotine (Cigarettes like crazy), and cults (AA/NA, 12step stuff, Scientology's Narcanon, lol )

Hey for the record, just in case you'd like to know what so ironic about this scientology program, feel free to look up several legitimate local news sites (google it) and look for articles that discuss how they have been busted by the police for bringing heroin back into the treatment centers. And to tell the truth, I can't think of a good reason


But to conclude, the main thing here that I think i share with Buzzby (if i understand the position) is parents get too scared because mj is [i]illegal[i]. The republicain party is losing a good reputation, although i don't know if that has a lot to do with weather or not mj is legalized in Colorado and/or Nevada coming up later this year.