Home Drug Testing
comments by Preston Peet- Special to Drugwar.com
April 20, 2002
Somebody at the email address admin@xpressdrugtest
thought it would be a good idea to send me a set of three links
to some product pages. I checked them out, and found they lead
to the frightening website of Global
Medical Systems, Inc., billing itself as "the leader
in home drug testing."
The first link leads here:
-------------------------
Home
Drug Testing- Drug Testing in the
Privacy of Your Own Home: Cocaine, Speed/Ecstasy, Heroin, and
THC/Marijuana
The above private home drug testing screen provides
immediate information about the use of the 4 most common drugs
of choice. Suggestions, for the use of home drug tests, from support
groups for parents are...
To build trust with loved ones.
At random, in an agreed partnership between
parent and child, before temptation to experiment with drug use
has begun.
If your child has started counseling,
in an agreed partnership between parent and child, testing your
child randomly as a condition of living at home.
On suspicion only, due to behavioral
changes.
The FirstStep home drug testing provides immediate
confidential results in the privacy of your own home. It's as
simple to use as a home pregnancy test - just dip and read - and
proven to be just as accurate. Colored lines let you know you've
administered the test properly and indicate the absence of specific
drugs.
Within a few short minutes, you can see whether
your child is using cocaine, speed/ecstasy, heroin, or THC/marijuana.
Today, parents need to be proactive in motivating their children
to stay off drugs. FirstStep, makes sure that you know, if your
child is tempted, they'll have one more reason to "JUST SAY
NO".
If you're also worried about alcohol, a home
test saliva kit can give a result within a few minutes.
These tests are not for legal, law enforcement.
or medical purposes. For diagnostic and treatment, consult your
doctor.
-------------------------------
That this company is pitching their product
as a means to build trust between partents and children, even
suggesting that parents for their children to submit to being
tested by their product as a prerequisite for continued living
in the home, even if there have not been any signs of drug use
or temptation to use whatsoever by the children, is beyond disturbing.
This is outright insanity. But it only gets worse.
The next link lead to a page titled, "Parents
Guide to Drugs- What Parents can Do", which cheerfully
informs the visitor at the very top of the page that "water
bottles and pacifiers are the latest signs of drug abuse, and
that the best place to find information on raves or drugs is the
internet." There are actually one or two valid points made
at this page, such as how the most important weapon against drug
abuse a parent has is communication with their children, but randomly
drug testing children doesn't seem like a good way to communicate.
They also supplied a link to their Drugs
of Abuse FAQ page, which is chock full of colorful photographs
of a wide assortment of illegal drugs. There's also listings of
groovy street names of drugs, and interestingly enough, long lists
of substances that can cause false positives on drug tests.
The US Substance Abuse Testing industry is currently
a $2.5 billion a year behemoth, somehow managing to convince Americans
that peeing in a cup for a boss, the government, or the police
is a good idea. Rather than focusing on whether an employee does
his job well or not, drug testing focuses on off-the-job behavior
in most cases, where a boss, nor the feds, have any business.
Drug tests are not infallible, as is quite clearly noted at this
company's own website, yet the industry continues to grow and
gain support.
Read more about the Drug Testing Industry Here
