3 advantages of a family teen drug testing policy

Should you be drug testing your teen?

There is no clear consensus whether drug testing your teenage children is ultimately a positive thing to do. Experts from all sides agree only to disagree, and there are some clear positives but also some legitimate negatives associated with the action.

The issues circle rights to privacy and respect versus a parent's need to know…and a parent's desire to protect their kids from the dangers of drugs and or alcohol.

Home drug testing kits are easy to use, not all that expensive and readily available on the internet; and parents can screen for a number of the most commonly used drugs of abuse. They can get an almost instant result using urine most commonly as the testing substance, but also sometimes hair (drug metabolites last longest in the hair) and also saliva.

The advantages of drug testing your teenage children

There are some clear advantages to home based drug testing your teen.

1 Prevention

Ideally, enacting a household policy of drug testing will serve as a significant deterrent to your children experimenting with drugs or alcohol. If they know that they have a random drug test to submit to at some point in each month, they may be less likely to risk punishments knowing there is a great likelihood that their use will be detected. If a drug testing policy can serve as any kind of deterrent to the experimentation or even regular use of drugs or alcohol, then parents really gain an advantage in keeping their kids safe from the dangers of abuse and addiction.

2 Early intervention

Another real plus to a home based drug testing policy is the ability to spot drug or alcohol use behaviors early, and get appropriate help if needed. All abuse and addiction is more easily treated when intervention occurs at the earliest possible stage; and with a conclusive drug test result, parents are in a great position to act on concrete information.

Drug testing may also help to evaluate the severity of a problem, and track repeated usage that may indicate a more serious abuse or dependency issue.

3 The ability to reward clean tests

The temptations to use are everywhere in our teen's lives, and it can be tough for them to resist normal adolescent desires to experiment, when coupled with easy access and peer pressure to do as friends are doing. Parents who drug test their teens give those teens an opportunity to conclusively demonstrate their good behavior and willpower, and just as and drug or alcohol use needs to be punished, so too should drug avoidance be rewarded.

Parents drug testing their kids have concrete evidence needed to enact behavioral modification techniques in the home.

Although parents may be very tempted to use drug testing kits in the home, there are some serious problems with their use and issues surrounding their efficacy; and experts remain divided about their relative benefits and costs. Please read here for the issues and problems associated with drug testing your teens