Blood Drug Testing - What do you think about parents using home drug-testing kits to test their children for drug use?

What do you think about parents using home drug-testing kits to test their children for drug use?

For a nominal fee parents can now at home perform a urinalysis that provides instant results to detect the presence of 10 types of drugs in their child's system: marijuana; cocaine; amphetamine; methamphetamine; barbiturates; opiates; oxycodone; MDMA, or Ecstasy; benzodiazepines; and proxyphene. There are also saliva swabs, which can be easily stored in a car's glove compartment, as well as oral tests that detect alcohol and tobacco use.

Public Comments

Good idead
If a parent has to drug test their kid, they didn't do a particularly good job at being a parent.
very nice idea! children beware!
I think if a parent has a strong suspicion that their child is using drugs, they have the right to test them. It's best to catch the problem early on.
If they are under 18 they have every right. Parents need to protect their children.
I think that is a great idea. If your kids are living under your roof they should follow your rules, period. If they want to do drugs, go do it under your own roof.
I'm mixed on this since I've been the abuser back in the day (a few years ago), but clean now... I believe that testing children in this day and age is a smart thing to do. I have children now, and wouldnt' want them to jump into that. _______________________________________________________ I make my own music & produce it too. PLEASE Check out our recording label Mindset Entertainment. Music at http://www.soundclick.com/mindsentertainmentinc - Keepin' it real
I think it is great. We live in a world where it is a concern and if your child has a problem you can not help them if you do not know.
I didn't know you could get ones for tobacco. lol, but I dunno - if they're doing illegal drugs, probably for their own best someone steps in and stops it. On the otherhand, it invades the childs privacy. I think they should be treated as a child until 18. If they can't make their own adult decision about drugs by then, they should be left to become a down-and-out by themselves.
I totally agree with it!!!! It is about time that we teach our children that drugs are not for you. Children are our future, It is up to us parents to make sure that they have a future.
I think it's a good idea. Hell, we can't spank them anymore, it's considered child abuse so we need to take control of them somehow!!
I totally agree with grisgris..drug tests are a total envasion of privacy and a way to break down your relationship with you child. (expect in certain circumstances, i.e. kid was doing cocaine and he was to stay clean in order to stay with parents, etc)
I think it's a good idea. It's about time as far as I'm concerned. I dont think it's an invasion of privacy, it's like saying children can do whatever they like as it's done in private. As for saying it's the result of bad parenting that's not entirely true either, of course some parents dont give a damn but if they didn't give a damn then they just wouldn't buy the drug testing kits.
Good idea. It's the parent's responsibility to help their kids make good decisions. Once a kid gets messed up in drugs, they won't be making any good decisions. Drugs is one of the worst things for kids, and I strongly believe in doing whatever it takes to keep your kids off drugs.
that is a great idea because teenage kids always lie about taking drugs.
Best thing since sliced bread.
I don't see anything wrong with it. Children belong to their parents, and it is the parents responsibility to make sure that their children don't get into thing they shouldn't. It should be a law, it would probably keep more kids out of trouble if it was.
If the child has already demonstrated he/she cannot be trusted, and drug use has already been part of the problem, I think it is a fine form of intervention. The message to the kid....likely when they are older...is hey, mom and dad loved me enough to try and protect me from myself.
Drug testing and drugs are big business! Everyone is making money off them except the users. I think the parents have the responsibility to know if their kids are using drugs
I think it'd be effective as long as you have good suspicions that your kids are doing drugs or if you don't tell them that you're doing these tests. Use it mainly to save your kids from drugs not as a device to make them feel bad or blackmail them or something.
If the parent has enough reason to distrust their child and suspect drug or alcohol use, then I think that this is a good idea. It's getting harder for parents to keep up with their kids, so many of them today have full time jobs on top of being a parent, housekeeper, cook, laundry service, etc... They just don't always have the time home to know exactly where their kids are going, who they are with, what they are doing. It could be a good way to help keep kids off drugs too. A teen wouldn't want to smoke dope if he know that mom has a drug test she gives him every night when he gets home.
i think it's great that there is an easy way to detect drug use in our children; however, i don't think it should be used unless the parent(s) suspect drug use. i'd hate to see a parent using the tests to intimidate their children who are already good kids - it just pushes kids farther away.
Parents have no right to do that sh*t. this is america
I think that kids have a right to their own privacy. If I found out my son was smoking weed then by all means..smoke it. If it was anyother drugs ( coke,ice,crack,heroin..etc) than I would definitely kick his ass!!! A home kit is going to do nothing but prove that he does it. Talking to him and explaining right from wrong I would say works better.
the kids are still going to do drugs,they are not gonna stop because mom knows.I think it makes the kids do it more when it is known about.I sent my son to drug classes he dropped dirty everytime.unless they want to stop they won't.
As a parent, I agree 100% with that. My children are only 10,9,. and 2, but the first time I suspect that there is anything going on with them, I am testing them right then. It is my job to protect them and teach them and save them from a life of drugs.
I don't think it helps. If you're a good parent and know how to talk to them, they shouldn't do drugs. If they do them anyway, (genetics or peer pressure) they will find ways around it, there are plenty of things out there that flush that stuff out of your system. Besides it's an invasion of privacy and they will resent you for it.
I think if a parent suspects drug abuse in their child that it is absolutely a good idea to test the child for drug use. Even the best parent in the world can have a child turn to drugs. There are so many people out there trying to influence children to try drugs and there is a lot of peer pressure on children. I would test my child if I ever suspected it because I would want to address the problem immediately and get them the help they needed. I would not want to be in denial about the problem. To many children die because this problem is overlooked and parents don't want to admit that a problem does exist.
Gris-gris? Use the voodooo stuff properly- how could u have such a comment? I think home drug testing kits are excellent, if not for a child with a problem, or who had a problem, then just for back up- Rather safe then sorry. Too late is no joke when it means a drug addict, it is a traumatising situation in the best of families.
wow.my brother's ex g/f's parents did one on her.she passed.i know an easy way to pass drugs tests.just dont do drugs.lol.
i have to agree that if parents do feel they have to drug test a child then they obviously were not paying enough attention to there activities and whereabouts. other then that i think its a great idea! kids need to be watched nowadays because it seems like young kids are getting into stuff that they really shouldnt be. putting fear into a child that you'll do a drug test if you feel they were doing something inappropriate is good because then they'll think twice when they go to a party or something. of course the question after that is: What if its detected that your child WAS doing this stuff? Do you turn them in to the cops? Do you ground them for life? Do you put them in a juvineile hall? It doesnt really matter because as long as your getting your kid off the street with that stuff sooner, the better off they are later. so in all: its a really good idea
Great question. Even the most menial of job positions requires a drug test these days. They need to get used to the idea. As a parent it is your responsibility to oversee the safety and health of your children. I see this as nothing more than an extention of my parental obligations. Personal responsibility and consequence are part of the real grown up world. What do we teach our children if we don't teach them this valuable lesson? and what do we loose on society if we haven't? As regards the privacy issue, privacy in our modern world is a myth propogated by idealistic naievete. Harsh but true.