The Home Drug Test Kits

If you’ve seen what you think might be the signs of drug use or symptoms of drug use in your teen and administered home drug test kits, then you wouldn’t be the first parent to hear your teen tell you that they didn’t smoke marijuana and that they were the only one in a room full of friends who didn’t do it. If your teen tells you that the reason for the result on their home drug test  was “second hand smoke” then I hope you don’t mind if I point out the obvious and suggest that the first thing you should consider doing is asking them what they were doing in a room full of people possessing and using illegal drugs in the first place.

Next, you should realize that the home drug test kits are calibrated to recognize the presence of drugs at concentration levels high enough that “second hand smoke” shouldn’t set them off. Kids will keep using the “second hand smoke” excuse as long as parents keep falling for it.

If your teen is particularly convincing and continues to insist that they didn’t take drugs, you can always offer to have the disputed results verified using a special type of lab test called GCMS, which will help you get the truth quickly. It has been my experience that once you offer to have a GCMS confirmation test performed at a lab on the sample you collected, your teen is likely to come clean and admit using.

If you want to know more about using home drug tests or picking out the best home drug test kit for your teen, or the steps to starting a home drug testing program, then there are plenty of helpful resources on the Internet. Program checklists, counselor approved strategies and video tutorials are must-see resources that are available to help you.

Copyright 2010 Test My Teen LLC.

http://www.testmyteen.com Dr. Deb Carlin is a psychologist who works closely with the TestMyTeen.com initiative. Her work provides home drug test kits and home drug testing strategies to prevent signs of drug use and symptoms of drug use in teens.

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by Dr. Deb Carlin

If you’re not trained to recognize the signs of drug use or symptoms of drug use in your teen and are considering the idea of using home drug test kits to keep bad things from happening to them, then you wouldn’t be the first parent to question the accuracy of home drug tests. Accuracy is critical and questioning it is a responsible thing to do.

Some home drug test kits are more accurate than others, and there are certainly some variables associated with different collection methods such as urine, saliva and hair. However, the short answer is that the accuracy of these tests are comparable to lab results. If it wasn’t, then we wouldn’t be seeing doctors, hospitals and medical clinics all across the country using the exact same testing kits with their patients.

Additionally, you always have the option and are encouraged to verify any disputed results using a GCMS confirmation test from an accredited lab. Most of the time, if your teen has been using illegal drugs and the home drug test kit shows it, they will admit it. If not, confirmation testing is always an option.

If you want to know more about using home drug tests or picking out the best home drug test kit for your teen, or the steps to starting a home drug testing program, then there are plenty of helpful resources on the Internet. Program checklists, counselor approved strategies and video tutorials are must-see resources that are available to help you.

Copyright 2010 Test My Teen LLC.

Technorati Tags: Accurate, Drug, Home, Kits, Test, Tests, Using