By Rose Ann Haven Anchor and Community Coverage
Published: Thu, May 08, 2008 - 4:18 pm
Last Updated: Thu, May 08, 2008 - 5:24 pm
Last Updated: Thu, May 08, 2008 - 5:24 pm
Rose Ann Haven
Mike Sullivan at the Drug Education Council tells 14 year old Alex Skogfeldt,
"What I'd like for you to do........is take this cup and go to the bathroom and give me a specimen about to the 40 about that deep..and when you get through put the top on it and bring it back to me."
After giving Sullivan the specimen Alex tells WKRG News 5 Crime Solutions Task Force Members Mel Showers and Rose Ann Haven, "Well, I expect it to be clean, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't"
His mother, Dana, expects clean results too. But, she still thinks it's a good idea to have him tested. She remembers being faced with drugs as a teenager. Haven asks her, "Were you able to say no? 'Oh absolutely not, I was in rehab when I was 16'.
Dana believes having your child drug tested makes it easier for them not to give in to peer pressure, "I wish my mom would have known about it It would have given me that little bit of backbone to say no..my mom could have me tested at a drop of a hat..no, no, can't do it".
Sullivan says, "The parents are made more aware, the child realizes that hey...this is a big deal and they're watching..so, it helps them all out".
Sullivan says the Voluntary Juvenile Drug Testing Program is completely anonymous, "They can either bring the urine in or they can bring the child and get the urine. But, nobody knows but the parent and it's for their information, and what they do with it is totally up to them".
The Drug Education Council takes a set of tickets with the same number, gives one ticket to the parent, and tapes another on the urine cup. Community Corrections picks up the specimen to test it for marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine, and opiates. The results are posted on a website for the parents to check, not by the child's name, but, the number given to the parent.
"She's the only one who has the other number. If it's positive she can say look, it came up positive. I'd like to set up a session for an assessment or counseling or both", says Sullivan.
Haven asked Alex,
"If you were a parent, is this something you would do? Bring your kid up here to be tested?" "I would", responded Alex.......I..just to make sure I know everything that's happening in my kid's life".
As Alex and his mother predicted, his test came back clean. For more information on the Voluntary Juvenile Drug Testing, go to www.drugeducation.org
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