MORE NOTES FROM LEBANON

There was another article about our school drug test in Illinois today. You can read the article by clicking the link here.

A few things came to mind as I read the article.

One is that we have a lot of respect for the work that drug dogs and their handlers do. It is truly amazing what these dogs are capable of doing. I hope the article and its focus on the comments of former Lebanon canine patrolman J.D. Beil don’t give anyone the impression that we think the drug dogs are useless. I'm sorry if that's how Patrolman Beil feels, but nothing could be further from the truth.

We are in favor of using whatever tools a school (or parent or business) has at its disposal to detect and deter drug abuse. Especially when it is in teenagers. There are plenty of options out there. Some schools use drug dogs, some schools do random urine testing, some schools sponsor drug education and prevention programs, some schools use DrugWipe, and some schools use a combination of these methods.

We obviously believe there are advantages to using DrugWipe. However, this is not a one or the other, us vs. them situation. It’s about using the available resources effectively to catch drug problems in our youth as early as possible so they get the help they need to lead full, productive lives.

I'd also like to address the comment about finding traces of drugs on paper currency taken out of the wallets of school board members. I think it leaves the impression that DrugWipe is so sensitive that it can detect residue on paper currency, thus can provide misleading results. That’s not the case.

When the technology was originally developed, it was sensitive enough to detect the miniscule amounts of drugs on paper currency. But the manufacturer realized that this would cause problems, including false positives. To avoid this issue of “background contamination”, the manufacturer bumped up the sensitivity of DrugWipe to the nanogram level - one billionth of a gram. At this level DrugWipe is finding narcotic residue from those who are actively engaged in the use or trafficking of illegal drugs. So while a $20 bill that was recently used by someone to snort a line of cocaine would most likely test positive with DrugWipe, the vast majority of bills in circulation would not!

Lastly, to me, the most positive part of the article was the statement that there has “been much talk around town” about our surface assessment at Lebanon High School. That’s awesome. The more people talk about drugs and drug abuse (especially when it’s between parents and their kids), the better. There's a statistic that indicates that talking to your teen on a regular basis about the dangers of drugs cuts their likelihood of using drugs by 42%.

So, please, whether you’re in Lebanon or anywhere else, keep talking!