Title: Drug%20Test%20Your%20Teen
1Drug Test Your Teen
- Helping Parents Keep
- Teens off Drugs
2Welcome
This presentation is presented courtesy of Drug
Test Your Teen (www.DrugTestYourTeen.com).
- We are a family owned and operated internet
resource where parents can easily and
inexpensively order drug, alcohol, and tobacco
tests to use in the privacy of their own home. - Our website is also full of information and
resources for parents to learn more about teens
and drug use. We hope to introduce more parents
to the idea of a home testing program to use as
an aid in parenting teens.
3All very active in our endeavor, Linzy, Melissa,
Delaney want to remind parents to keep their
eyes and ears open, and to communicate even when
your kids act like they are not listening. Any
parents biggest enemy is the not my kid
syndrome. None of us wants to believe that our
child could become involved with drugs.
4Drug Test Your Teen
- The one thing that we hope parents will get
from this presentation is not to wait until they
suspect that their teen is smoking, drinking, or
using drugs before they feel that they need a
home testing program. - The fact is, most parents dont suspect drug use
until something bad happens, like their child
being arrested, having an accident, an overdose,
or trouble in school. - Please consider at home testing as a deterrent to
your child ever using drugs. It gives teens a
powerful excuse to say NO. Too many of our
customers are monitoring kids that have already
been in troublethey all wish that they had
started testing sooner.
5Why test?
- Most good parents want to be as careful and
responsible as possible. Whether you are trying
to prevent drug use, discover possible drug use,
stop current use, or just be reassured that a
teen is on the right road, home testing can help.
Drug testing can be a very useful parenting
tool. Our hearts ache for the parents that
discover drug use, but knowing the truth is the
first step to a solution. - Drug testing is only helpful when it is combined
with great communication and effective
discipline. Drug testing alone will not solve
anything.
6- Let your teens know that you love them too
much to let them be involved with drugs, and you
will use any tool available to keep them away
from drugs, including drug testing in your home.
So many parents simply haven't thought to drug
test their kids at home, even though testing is a
very effective means of helping to prevent teen
drug use, especially by giving kids a great
"excuse" to say, "NO THANKS, MY PARENTS TEST ME".
7First, a little about what we promote
- Accurate, simple to use, in-home urine drug
screens to check for teen drug use in the privacy
of your home. - Urine tests to check for the possibility of
tobacco use. - A simple alcohol saliva test to check for teen
drinkinga must for teen drivers.
8The 6-panel drug screen
- Our six-panel test screens for the most common
drugs of abuse among teens today. Just one step -
dip into a cup of urine and wait 5 minutes for
the results. Most drugs can be detected for
several days. - This simple, accurate test screens for
- THC (marijuana, weed, smoke, pot, hash)
- Cocaine (crack, skitz, snow)
- Methamphetamines (ice, crank, crystal, glass,
ecstasy) - Opiates, (heroin, horse, oxycontin, vicodin,
morphine, codeine) - Amphetamines (speed, uppers, go)
- Benzodiazepines (t-bars, roofies, date rape
drug, valium, librium, xanax)
9Drugs come in many forms.
10- These tests work much like a home pregnancy
test. You dip the test in a cup of urine, and
instantly read the results. -
11The alcohol screen
- With our home alcohol test there is no more
wondering if your teens are drinking and driving.
- It's an easy test - it takes just minutes to swab
the inside of the mouth and wait for the results.
- It is much easier to let your teenager drive the
car to a party when you are both clear that there
will be an alcohol test when they return. - The test even tells you the approximate blood
alcohol level at the time of the test! - This test is very accurate, and the results are
immediate.
12The cigarette smoke check..
- This urine test detects cigarette smoking with
immediate, accurate results. - Now you can know the truth, and increase your
chances of preventing this dangerous habit. - Cigarettes are a "gateway" drug. Kids today will
tell you "cigarettes lead to drinking, drinking
leads to drugging." - Research shows that youth who smoke cigarettes
are fourteen times more likely to try marijuana
as those who don't. - Addressing this "gateway drug" as early as
possible could be one of greatest things that you
ever do for your child.
13The Facts
- Parents don't like to imagine that it could be
"their child" using drugs. - Studies show that while only 18 of parents
believe that their teen has tried drugs, 53 of
high school seniors actually admit to some drug
use.
14 - Check out the statistics...
- According to NIDA "Monitoring the Future
Study - 53 of the teens have tried illegal drugs.41
of teens used illegal drugs in the past year.25
used illegal drugs in the past 30 days. 48 of
the teen population has tried marijuana. 36
used marijuana in the past year. 21 used
marijuana in the past 30 days. 78 have used
alcohol.57 have smoked cigarettes.12 have
used inhalants. - How many of these parents said "Not my kid.
- these are teens that admitted to drug use
15- Drinking and driving killed 17,419 people last
year... - When you see the awful news stories about
impaired teens being hurt or killed in accidents
of twisted metal, you pray, "please, not my
child". - Make sure your child isn't drinking by testing
for alcohol use whenever they have been out. - Remind them every time they go out. The fear of
getting caught and losing driving privileges is a
sure deterrent.
16SHOULD YOU DRUG TEST YOUR TEEN?
- "Young people tend to be very altruistic, and
they think they are immortal," said Tom Riley, a
spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control
Policy. "Telling teens that something is
dangerous tends not to affect their
behavior".Executives, professional athletes,
truck drivers, and policemen have to prove that
they are drug-free. The world your child lives in
has drug testing! Why not teens?
17Marijuana is not harmlessthis is not what was
smoked in the 70s
- Marijuana can be addictive, and it is more
addictive in young people than in adults. - In fact, more kids are in drug treatment for
marijuana use than for all other illicit drugs
combined.
18- When teens and pre-teens use drugs, they will
almost always deny it to their parents! - When you discuss the possibility of drug testing,
even the most guilty teen will say, "bring it on-
I've got nothing to hide". - In a letter from a parent I'll make one
recommendation to parents starting down the home
testing path hold firm the first time you hand
your kid the cup! The guilt, apprehension, fear,
embarrassment, whatever, weighed on me at that
moment and my son sensed it immediately, and, as
teens do well, helped the feeling along with a
sharp comment. Don't back down!
19- Trust?
- Checking to make sure that your children are
making good decisions is just part of responsible
parenting. We believe that drug testing is no
more intrusive than checking to make sure your
child is actually spending the night where they
say or checking a report card. - What a parent should trust is that teens are
going to make some bad decisions and it is the
adults job to stop them any way they can when
that bad decision can change the course of their
child's life. - In this uncertain and dangerous world,
its your job as a parent to protect your child
until they acquire the common sense of adulthood.
20- Make your policy "NO DRUGS" and let them prove
it. - You are legally and financially responsible if
your teen wrecks the car, gets arrested, needs
drug rehab, or worse. - It is your business if your child is using drugs.
21- We live in a world where drugs are very
prevalent. You can do a lot to help reduce the
risks and lessen their chances of developing any
problems with drugs. - Let them know that you love them too much to let
them get involved with drugs, and you will use
any tool available to keep them away from drugs,
including drug testing in your home. - Try to make them understand how dangerous drug
use really is.
22- Talk to your children, and listen to them.
- The more you know about your children's lives and
their concerns, the easier it will be for you to
be aware of a problem before it gets too big. - Explain yourselflet your child see your
feareven your tearsmake them understand your
need to be as certain as possible.
23- Keep yourself well informed about alcohol and
other drugs. - Accurate information will enable you to answer
questions that your children ask and to work out
your own views about drugs well before you have
to discuss the issues with them. - Many schools and community groups now run special
drug education programs for parents. - There are many great drug education resources on
the Internet.
24- Negotiate some rules about acceptable behavior.
- Know that as your child grows up, many rules need
to be reviewed regularly and probably relaxed bit
by bit. - Your child is on the way to becoming an adult and
needs some freedom. Let them know that by
assuring you (with regular testing) that they are
not succumbing to peer pressure, that you are
able to allow them more freedom.
25- Remember that you have rights and interests
too. - Being a bully never gets you anywhere. But
asserting your need for information about what
your child is doing, and requiring certain rules
to be followed around the house, will help to
remind your teenager that you are a person too. - You are legally and financially responsible
for the behavior of your teen, so you have the
right to get all the facts that you can.
26- Get to know your children's friends and the
parents of their friends. - Parents can help each other by getting together
to talk about their worries, and by agreeing to
handle some problems in the same way. - As parents, it helps when we can "watch each
other's backs".
27- Try to anticipate some of the situations that
you could have to deal with. - What will you say if your child tells you that
they have had too much to drink, or that they
have tried marijuana? - What if you do if your child tests positive for
drug use? - Think about these things in advance can help you
to keep your composure if or when they do happen,
and will help you to deal with them sensibly.
28Before you test
- Trust your instincts as a parent! Our tests do
not detect every possible drug that teens use,
nor are they perfect science. - Parental "radar" is often very accurate. Do not
ignore your bad feelings. Consult your family
physician with any doubts. - Realistically, you need to spend some time
planning how you will react if you do discover
drug use. Don't forget that there are underlying
reasons for drug use, and those reasons need to
be discovered and dealt with.
29Thank you!
- Please visit our website today at
www.DrugTestYourTeen.com, or call us at
972-797-TEST.
30Other Great Resources
- SAMHSA finds substance abuse treatment facilities
by location at (http//findtreatment.samhsa.gov/fa
cilitylocatordoc.htm) - National Institute on Drug Abuse
(http//www.nida.nih.gov/) -
- NIDA for Teens (http//www.teens.drugabuse.gov/)
- Parents. The Anti-Drug (http//www.theantidrug.com
/) - Partnership For A Drug Free America
(http//www.drugfreeamerica.org/) - Substance Abuse Mental Health Services
Administration (http//www.samhsa.gov/) - Office of National Drug Control
Policy (http//www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/)
31Summary
- DrugTestYourTeen.com is here to help!
- Know your kids, their friends, and their friends
parents working together is key. - Substance abuse is hard to prevent and to detect
we must be actively engaged! - Home drug testing gives your kids another reason
to say NO!