DENIAL
One of the most eye opening experiences we’ve had since starting IDS was doing an assessment for a school in the St. Louis region. The school’s administrators knew there was a problem with marijuana activity, but had no idea how big of a problem it was. They wanted to know exactly what was going on in the school and to do it as discreetly as possible. They decided DrugWipe was just what they were looking for so they could more effectively address drug issues in the school. The contract called for us to do an initial assessment and then have their staff members trained in using DrugWipe technology so they could conduct ongoing assessments as needed.
We conducted a general assessment, using 1 DrugWipe to sample 20 lockers at a time. We used 7 DrugWipes to sample 140 lockers used by 6th and 7th graders and 10 DrugWipes to sample 200 lockers used by 8th and 9th graders.
The Results
3 of the 7 DrugWipes we used on the 6th / 7th grade lockers and 5 of the 10 DrugWipes used on the 8th / 9th grade lockers turned up positive for marijuana. The real surprise was that 4 of the 7 DrugWipes used on the 6th / 7th grade lockers and 9 of the 10 used on the 8th / 9th grade lockers were positive for cocaine. (I’ve just thrown a lot of numbers out at you and want to be very clear about one thing. This does NOT mean that 90% of the 8th and 9th graders at this school were using cocaine. We sampled 20 lockers with each DrugWipe and only 1 of those 20 lockers would need to have cocaine residue on it for there to be a positive result.)
The most disturbing thing to me, however, was the school administration didn’t believe the results. They claimed that they didn’t have a problem with crack or cocaine in their community and the testing must be flawed. Concerned about that claim, I talked with a DEA agent that’s worked in the area for over 20 years while my partner talked with someone who has been involved in adolescent drug counseling and intervention in the area, also for over 20 years. Because we hold our clients’ confidentiality in the highest regard, we only indicated the general area where the school was located to these experts and asked them if they were surprised by the results. The DEA agent told me that “if you were surprised by the results, you should have talked to me first.” The drug counselor wasn’t surprised either.
After some further discussions with school administrators and a brief follow-up assessment to confirm our earlier findings, we sat down with the principal. We reiterated the fact that the government has tested DrugWipe and found it to be 100% accurate in their surface tests. We recounted the discussions we had with local experts and their thoughts on the situation. We then asked the principal if there was anything we could do to make them believe that these results were accurate. The principal said there wasn’t. At this point we told the principal that if the school administration didn’t believe in the technology there was no reason to proceed with the training and purchase of 50 DrugWipes that our original contract had called for. So we tore up the contract, shook hands, and parted ways.
We have encountered a lot of denial since starting Integrity Detection Systems last year. Parents who believe there is no way that their child could be involved in drugs. Company owners that risk the safety and lost profits associated with drug use in the workplace rather than implement an effective drug testing policy. Drug use tends to be a taboo subject and many people would rather just stick their heads in the sand instead of facing the facts and taking steps that could help turnaround and save lives. This case with the school was particularly disturbing because the results clearly indicated there is a large use and/or trafficking problem at this school and young children were involved in some way.
Drug use is a very serious problem and helping those with addiction problems is extremely difficult. I can understand how easy it could be to try and ignore the problem and hope it goes away on its own. However, it rarely does. Most addictions start between the ages of 12 and 14. The earlier you can intervene and help kids at that age stay away from drugs, the better chance they have of righting the ship and getting them back on the path to bright, productive futures.
While intervention doesn’t guarantee success in overcoming a drug problem, ignoring the problem is a guaranteed recipe for failure.
One of the most eye opening experiences we’ve had since starting IDS was doing an assessment for a school in the St. Louis region. The school’s administrators knew there was a problem with marijuana activity, but had no idea how big of a problem it was. They wanted to know exactly what was going on in the school and to do it as discreetly as possible. They decided DrugWipe was just what they were looking for so they could more effectively address drug issues in the school. The contract called for us to do an initial assessment and then have their staff members trained in using DrugWipe technology so they could conduct ongoing assessments as needed.
We conducted a general assessment, using 1 DrugWipe to sample 20 lockers at a time. We used 7 DrugWipes to sample 140 lockers used by 6th and 7th graders and 10 DrugWipes to sample 200 lockers used by 8th and 9th graders.
The Results
3 of the 7 DrugWipes we used on the 6th / 7th grade lockers and 5 of the 10 DrugWipes used on the 8th / 9th grade lockers turned up positive for marijuana. The real surprise was that 4 of the 7 DrugWipes used on the 6th / 7th grade lockers and 9 of the 10 used on the 8th / 9th grade lockers were positive for cocaine. (I’ve just thrown a lot of numbers out at you and want to be very clear about one thing. This does NOT mean that 90% of the 8th and 9th graders at this school were using cocaine. We sampled 20 lockers with each DrugWipe and only 1 of those 20 lockers would need to have cocaine residue on it for there to be a positive result.)
The most disturbing thing to me, however, was the school administration didn’t believe the results. They claimed that they didn’t have a problem with crack or cocaine in their community and the testing must be flawed. Concerned about that claim, I talked with a DEA agent that’s worked in the area for over 20 years while my partner talked with someone who has been involved in adolescent drug counseling and intervention in the area, also for over 20 years. Because we hold our clients’ confidentiality in the highest regard, we only indicated the general area where the school was located to these experts and asked them if they were surprised by the results. The DEA agent told me that “if you were surprised by the results, you should have talked to me first.” The drug counselor wasn’t surprised either.
After some further discussions with school administrators and a brief follow-up assessment to confirm our earlier findings, we sat down with the principal. We reiterated the fact that the government has tested DrugWipe and found it to be 100% accurate in their surface tests. We recounted the discussions we had with local experts and their thoughts on the situation. We then asked the principal if there was anything we could do to make them believe that these results were accurate. The principal said there wasn’t. At this point we told the principal that if the school administration didn’t believe in the technology there was no reason to proceed with the training and purchase of 50 DrugWipes that our original contract had called for. So we tore up the contract, shook hands, and parted ways.
We have encountered a lot of denial since starting Integrity Detection Systems last year. Parents who believe there is no way that their child could be involved in drugs. Company owners that risk the safety and lost profits associated with drug use in the workplace rather than implement an effective drug testing policy. Drug use tends to be a taboo subject and many people would rather just stick their heads in the sand instead of facing the facts and taking steps that could help turnaround and save lives. This case with the school was particularly disturbing because the results clearly indicated there is a large use and/or trafficking problem at this school and young children were involved in some way.
Drug use is a very serious problem and helping those with addiction problems is extremely difficult. I can understand how easy it could be to try and ignore the problem and hope it goes away on its own. However, it rarely does. Most addictions start between the ages of 12 and 14. The earlier you can intervene and help kids at that age stay away from drugs, the better chance they have of righting the ship and getting them back on the path to bright, productive futures.
While intervention doesn’t guarantee success in overcoming a drug problem, ignoring the problem is a guaranteed recipe for failure.
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