When should parents consider drug testing their teen?
If I had to do it all over again, I would make random drug testing a part of my child’s life as soon as they entered middle school. I think if this is addressed with love and concern and not in a punitive manner it will be an accepted fact by our teens. In addition, it gives teens an acceptable excuse to use with their peers as a refusal skill when offered drugs or alcohol – “No thanks, my parents test me.” Because kids are so clever at hiding signs of drug or alcohol use, drug testing would help you catch a potential problem early. Early intervention is the best chance for successful intervention. You recently took part in the launch of an online campaign to raise awareness about cough medicine abuse. Can you tell us a little more about that? I am one of five moms involved in a campaign to raise awareness about cough medicine abuse. What is cough medicine abuse? It’s taking an extreme amount of cough medicine-bottle after bottle or pill after pill-to get high. The “high” is caused by
