Pre-Testing Your Child For Drugs

Another day, another dollar; or so they say.

Once again I sit here at work with my distractions; a radio, a book, a pen and paper. Which means invariably so that there is a good chance that there will be something that will catch my attention that will spur me to write.

Today it is a radio commercial about drug testing your child before the school does. Find out before the school does or some crap like that it says.

Now I'm not totally against drug testing for high school athletes and only then for steroids, not for anything else. Now, if a student got tested and that test came back positive for something other than steroids, I feel that the student should be counseled by their coach and at the coach's discretion, perhaps then the parents should be notified. It would be the coach's discretion to kick the student off of the team, but that could send the student into more drug abuse, whereas keeping them on could be an outlet for their problems and curb the drug use.

Don't start thinking that I am some sort of anti-drug, I am against the hardcore stuff; coke, meth and the like, but believe that marijuana has been criminalized too much. Mostly I believe that what people do in their private lives is no concern of the rest of the world, as long as it doesn't place themselves or others in harm's way.

Back to the commercial.

It is basically a product/service that tells a parent that they cannot trust their children, that they should pre-test them before the school does.

I have two very fundamental reasons as to why this is wrong.

1. It is not the school's right.

It isn't. The only right the school should have is to test the students involved in athletics and only to test for steroids, as stated above. For testing the general population of students, it is an infringement of their rights. It is not the school's business to know what their students do in their free time away from school functions or the school itself. If a student is using or selling at school or school functions and gets caught, then that is on the student, but to be busted by an infringement of their rights, is not.

2. Parents trust.

If the parents have raised their child or children with an incorruptible teaching of right and wrong; and feel that they can trust their kids, pre-testing is a moot point. Granted, yes a child can fall into the 'wrong' crowd and indulge into drugs, but there will be signs and every parent should research these signs to be able to recognize them if they must. Even if a child falls into the 'wrong' crowd, a parent should not worry as long as they have instilled in the a strong sense of right and wrong.

To feel you must have your child tested for drugs, means that you as a parent have either no concern to learn the warning signs or you would rather have someone else tell you.

If you found out how would you react if it was positive? Over react? Call the police? Talk with them?

The first two are the wrong path to take and could only further distance your child from you and push them further into drugs. Talking to them is the best way and if necessary, family counseling to get to the root of the problem.

Just think about this, a pre-test could just show an experimentation that the child may not have liked and may never commit again.

Shouldn't you trust the way you brought them up?

By the way, I have never indulged in drugs. I have never felt the need to. I was educated by the usage of drugs by family members and being talked to by my mother about the dangers and repercussions of them. Also, the massive anti-drug campaign in the 80's and 90's didn't hurt either.