Drug Test Your Teen

1. Drug Test Your Teen Helping Parents Keep Teens off Drugs

2. Welcome… 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. This presentation is presented courtesy of Drug Test Your Teen (www.DrugTestYourTeen.com).

3. All 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.

4. Drug 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 don’t 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 trouble…they all wish that they had started testing sooner.

5. Why 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".

7. First, 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 drinking…a must for teen drivers.

8. The 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)

9. Drugs 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.

11. The 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.

12. The 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.

13. The 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.

16. SHOULD 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?

17. Marijuana is not “harmless”…this is not what was smoked in the 70’s… • 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, it’s 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, andlisten 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 yourself…let your child see your fear…even your tears…make 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.

28. Before 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.

29. Thank you! • Please visit our website today at www.DrugTestYourTeen.com, or call us at 972-797-TEST.

30. Other Great Resources • SAMHSA finds substance abuse treatment facilities by location at (http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/facilitylocatordoc.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/)

31. Summary • 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!”