The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement yesterday saying that drug testing teenagers at home or at school is generally a bad idea.
I agree.
However, if you look the AAP’s concerns closely, it wasn't so much the idea of drug testing teens that was the problem. It's the urine tests schools and parents use to conduct the testing that's the problem. The AAP pointed to problems with false positives and false negatives, teens using the web to get information on how to beat the urine tests, and a short window of detection (most drugs only stay in the system for just a few days after use).
I first read the report when a friend of mine e-mailed me a link to a story about it saying "this probably isn't good for your business." Actually, I think it's GREAT for our business.
That’s because most of the concerns the AAP raises about drug testing teenagers are eliminated by using DrugWipe.
False positives and false negatives? Not an issue a DrugWipe.
Teenagers beating the drug tests? Not with DrugWipe. Parents use DrugWipe to swipe down surfaces their kids have touched when the kids aren't even around. There’s no room for any adulteration or substitution.
Short detection window? DrugWipe can detect drug residue on surfaces up to three months after use.
Another main issue that the AAP brings up is that drug testing can create a climate of “resentment, distrust, and suspicion” between a parent (or school) and a teenager.
There may be some truth to that, but isn’t that about par for the course when it comes to teenagers? Eventually, they’ll get over it.
That type of argument reminds me of something I’ve heard from a number of drug treatment specialists. They say “if you ask parents whose teenagers have battled drug addictions, they all wished they had intervened sooner, rather than later or not at all.” When it comes to drug use, there's simply too much at stake to worry about offending your teen.
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schools. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
WHAT'S THE POINT?
We've been getting a lot of positive feedback about the media coverage yesterday and today for our narcotics assessment at Lebanon High School. We've also been hearing a lot of positive remarks about the school for taking the initiative to do something about teenage drug use.
One question we have come up again and again is "What's the point of a surface assessment?" We're testing property and not people. We're testing blocks of lockers and don't know how many lockers in each block may have narcotic residue on them. Even if we narrow things down to one locker, it might not be the student who's assigned to the locker that's responsible for the drug residue.
Yes, this is all true. To understand the importance and value of a surface assessment, you need to take a step back.
Most of us think of drug testing in the traditional sense - you go pee in a cup, give a blood sample, or have some hair clipped. A lot of this is done in a random fashion which, by definition, is a pretty inefficient way of approaching things. It takes a big investment of time and money to design and implement a drug testing program, whether it's in a school or an business setting. And you're doing all this for a problem that the statistics show only affects a relatively small percentage of your workforce or student population.
But what if there was a way, before all that happens, to assess what drug problems are really present in the school or business? Would it be helpful to know that there is little to no drug use by freshman but cocaine is prevalent by senior year? Would it be helpful to know that there's no evidence of drug activity in your warehouse, but your trucks are contaminated by residue from meth and marijuana? Would it be helpful to know that while your drug education program is telling students not to smoke pot, they are actually more into heroin?
That's the information DrugWipe provides. It says instead of taking a cookie cutter approach to drug testing, drug education, drug prevention, etc., find out what specific problems you have in your facility. That way you can develop a plan to effectively address the areas of greatest concern.
As a friend put it to me the other day, "If you don't know what you're up against, how can you stop it?"
We've been getting a lot of positive feedback about the media coverage yesterday and today for our narcotics assessment at Lebanon High School. We've also been hearing a lot of positive remarks about the school for taking the initiative to do something about teenage drug use.
One question we have come up again and again is "What's the point of a surface assessment?" We're testing property and not people. We're testing blocks of lockers and don't know how many lockers in each block may have narcotic residue on them. Even if we narrow things down to one locker, it might not be the student who's assigned to the locker that's responsible for the drug residue.
Yes, this is all true. To understand the importance and value of a surface assessment, you need to take a step back.
Most of us think of drug testing in the traditional sense - you go pee in a cup, give a blood sample, or have some hair clipped. A lot of this is done in a random fashion which, by definition, is a pretty inefficient way of approaching things. It takes a big investment of time and money to design and implement a drug testing program, whether it's in a school or an business setting. And you're doing all this for a problem that the statistics show only affects a relatively small percentage of your workforce or student population.
But what if there was a way, before all that happens, to assess what drug problems are really present in the school or business? Would it be helpful to know that there is little to no drug use by freshman but cocaine is prevalent by senior year? Would it be helpful to know that there's no evidence of drug activity in your warehouse, but your trucks are contaminated by residue from meth and marijuana? Would it be helpful to know that while your drug education program is telling students not to smoke pot, they are actually more into heroin?
That's the information DrugWipe provides. It says instead of taking a cookie cutter approach to drug testing, drug education, drug prevention, etc., find out what specific problems you have in your facility. That way you can develop a plan to effectively address the areas of greatest concern.
As a friend put it to me the other day, "If you don't know what you're up against, how can you stop it?"
Lebanon High School Assessment
Yesterday, an assessment we performed at Lebanon High School was covered by all local news stations (here's a link to a clip from KSDK) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After trying to get media coverage here locally for over a year, it was really something to have all the local stations and the Post show up at the same time! We're still trying to digest it all, but I have some thoughts on the assessment.
1. Thanks. First, we want to express our appreciation and thanks to the Lebanon School District and Superintendent Harry Cavanaugh for allowing the media to cover the assessment at their school. We'd also like to thank the members of the media for coming out to cover the story and put some attention on the problem of drug use by teens.
2. Courage. There's a lot of denial about drug problems out there and the Lebanon School District was willing to not only take the step to learn about what types of problems they have but to share it with the media. That takes a lot of courage.
3. Common. I wish I could say the results were unexpected. Some people might hear the media report that 8 out of the 17 DrugWipes used tested positive for drugs and be shocked. The results are neither surprising nor uncommon. Unfortunately, we would be hard pressed to go into a school in this country and not find evidence of drug use or trafficking. There is no reason to believe, based on these initial results, that the Lebanon School District has any larger or smaller drug problem than any other school district in the country.
4. Denial. Many school districts would rather just look the other way when it comes to drugs. Administrators and parents would like to believe it's not a problem in their community or with their children. Unfortunately, the problem only gets attention when something bad happens such as the drug bust at Lutheran South here in St. Louis earlier this year or the murder of the Lindbergh High School student by another student who reportedly was a known drug user. While these stories get the big headlines, this is a problem that is going on every day in most high schools (and many middle schools) across the country. Addressing drug use by teenagers is neither easy nor fun. But it is necessary. Most drug addictions start between the ages of 12 and 14. The earlier you can intervene, the better the chance of getting a child back on the right track. Denying that teens use drugs wastes precious time.
5. Reality. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of surface assessments with DrugWipe is that it makes drug use "real". It takes it from the abstract to an in-your-face, here are the facts of the situation. The bottom line is, if you don't know a problem exists, how can you stop it? DrugWipe makes the problem "real" and lets school administrators and business owners acutely aware of what the problems are, and where they need to focus their attention to address the problem.
6. Focus. While we do not divulge the results of any surface assessments we perform, it was reported by the media that 8 of the 17 DrugWipes we used last night tested positive. This is baseline data that, in and of itself, does not mean much. We will be providing the Lebanon School District with a report soon that details our findings. This will let them see exactly what problems there are by grade level and by gender. This will help them focus their anti-drug efforts on the groups that need it most.
7. Exhaustion. Have you ever tried to do your job with journalists asking you questions, photographers snapping pictures, and video cameras rolling?! Let me tell you, it ain't easy! It was a long afternoon and the calls and emails have already started to come in. Though exhausted, I'm not complaining!
8. Hope. While the Lebanon School District was hoping the tests would reveal no indication of drug use by students, that unfortunately wasn't the case. They found out yesterday that, like most high schools, they do face some problems with student drug use. However, I am hopeful that with this information they will begin to develop a plan to address these issues and provide education, intervention, etc. for the students that need it. That's what this is all about. It's not to go on a witchhunt for students who are using or trafficking drugs and prosecute them. It's for assessing the facts of the situation and using whatever tools are available to help kids stay on the path to a bright, productive future. The fact that the Lebanon School District stepped up to the plate and is facing the issue of student drug use head on, makes me hopeful that's exactly what they are going to do for their students.
Yesterday, an assessment we performed at Lebanon High School was covered by all local news stations (here's a link to a clip from KSDK) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After trying to get media coverage here locally for over a year, it was really something to have all the local stations and the Post show up at the same time! We're still trying to digest it all, but I have some thoughts on the assessment.
1. Thanks. First, we want to express our appreciation and thanks to the Lebanon School District and Superintendent Harry Cavanaugh for allowing the media to cover the assessment at their school. We'd also like to thank the members of the media for coming out to cover the story and put some attention on the problem of drug use by teens.
2. Courage. There's a lot of denial about drug problems out there and the Lebanon School District was willing to not only take the step to learn about what types of problems they have but to share it with the media. That takes a lot of courage.
3. Common. I wish I could say the results were unexpected. Some people might hear the media report that 8 out of the 17 DrugWipes used tested positive for drugs and be shocked. The results are neither surprising nor uncommon. Unfortunately, we would be hard pressed to go into a school in this country and not find evidence of drug use or trafficking. There is no reason to believe, based on these initial results, that the Lebanon School District has any larger or smaller drug problem than any other school district in the country.
4. Denial. Many school districts would rather just look the other way when it comes to drugs. Administrators and parents would like to believe it's not a problem in their community or with their children. Unfortunately, the problem only gets attention when something bad happens such as the drug bust at Lutheran South here in St. Louis earlier this year or the murder of the Lindbergh High School student by another student who reportedly was a known drug user. While these stories get the big headlines, this is a problem that is going on every day in most high schools (and many middle schools) across the country. Addressing drug use by teenagers is neither easy nor fun. But it is necessary. Most drug addictions start between the ages of 12 and 14. The earlier you can intervene, the better the chance of getting a child back on the right track. Denying that teens use drugs wastes precious time.
5. Reality. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of surface assessments with DrugWipe is that it makes drug use "real". It takes it from the abstract to an in-your-face, here are the facts of the situation. The bottom line is, if you don't know a problem exists, how can you stop it? DrugWipe makes the problem "real" and lets school administrators and business owners acutely aware of what the problems are, and where they need to focus their attention to address the problem.
6. Focus. While we do not divulge the results of any surface assessments we perform, it was reported by the media that 8 of the 17 DrugWipes we used last night tested positive. This is baseline data that, in and of itself, does not mean much. We will be providing the Lebanon School District with a report soon that details our findings. This will let them see exactly what problems there are by grade level and by gender. This will help them focus their anti-drug efforts on the groups that need it most.
7. Exhaustion. Have you ever tried to do your job with journalists asking you questions, photographers snapping pictures, and video cameras rolling?! Let me tell you, it ain't easy! It was a long afternoon and the calls and emails have already started to come in. Though exhausted, I'm not complaining!
8. Hope. While the Lebanon School District was hoping the tests would reveal no indication of drug use by students, that unfortunately wasn't the case. They found out yesterday that, like most high schools, they do face some problems with student drug use. However, I am hopeful that with this information they will begin to develop a plan to address these issues and provide education, intervention, etc. for the students that need it. That's what this is all about. It's not to go on a witchhunt for students who are using or trafficking drugs and prosecute them. It's for assessing the facts of the situation and using whatever tools are available to help kids stay on the path to a bright, productive future. The fact that the Lebanon School District stepped up to the plate and is facing the issue of student drug use head on, makes me hopeful that's exactly what they are going to do for their students.
Friday, November 10, 2006
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
