If you have found our website then it is likely that you are concerned about substance abuse and your teenager. Many parents are simply not aware that easy, confidential, in-home tests are now available for drug and alcohol testing.

Home Drug and Alcohol testing should be used initially to find out if your teen has been introduced to drugs, so that you are in a position to take positive action and seek professional help or as a preventative to help your teen say no to peer pressure.

As a parent or caregiver you are in the best position to see the changes in your teens behaviour pattern, changes in their moods, restless behaviour, sleeping more than usual, bloodshot eyes, etc. you would be the first to know that something is not quite right with your teen. It could be just hormonal, which in most cases it is. Taking action by drug and alcohol testing early will prevent teen experimentation going any further. In most cases experimentation will not lead to addiction or dependence but in some cases it does. Drugs are also illegal and teens who are caught with drugs in their possession will be arrested and have a criminal record and they will probably be expelled from school if they are found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at school or in possession of drugs or alcohol at school. We know of many cases where this has happened.

If you are one of the ever growing numbers of parents that might be afraid or unsure about drug testing your teenager for fear that your child might be insulted or angry, you need to take control now – while you still can. We all want to trust our children, but a child who is doing drugs should understand your need to be certain. The very idea that you might confirm your worst fears about your child's’s activities may make you hesitate – don’t make that mistake. These things rarely go away with out parental intervention. A teen that is insulted that you don’t trust them is better than the possible alternatives such as addiction, crime or possibly worse. Remember when your kids were toddlers, you took whatever measures were necessary to keep them from running out into the street. Now, with the help of the drug and alcohol test kits that are available and the advice from the many professionals available you have the tools to prevent them from doing something equally as dangerous.

So What Do You Do? First thing to do is start a Drug and Alcohol Policy in your home. A drug and alcohol policy is a family agreement where all family members agree on what is acceptable behaviour over drugs and alcohol, what the consequence will be should one of the family take drugs or alcohol. Offer them a full education program of what the result of drug taking can have on their health, education and future employment. Discuss the ways in which you are taking control in helping your teens say no by randomly testing them for drugs and alcohol and possibly offer rewards for drug and alcohol free results. Whatever you discuss and agree on as a family as to your drug and alcohol policy you must then follow up on the consequences and rewards that you as a family agreed on or the policy will not be workable. That’s why it’s important that you take time in deciding as a family on the consequences and rewards and they must be realistic and workable.

You as parents or caregivers are empowering your teens to SAY NO! to drugs and in doing so you are giving them an acceptable reason for saying no to there peers. Also by discussing drugs with your teen it lets them know that you love them and that you care, with our busy schedules sometimes teens feel that their families don’t care and let them know that it is an important issue for you. Use this to motivate them against drug experimentation. Empower your teens today to SAY NO! today. We sincerely hope that you will discover that your teenager is not using drugs. If you received negative results you can still test again on a frequent and random basis. There is no better reason for your kids to continue to SAY NO! than “My parents drug test me”. However if your teenager has tested positive for one or more of the drugs, then you really need to act NOW! Parents just finding out that their kid‘s are using drugs need to utilise all the resources available, and educate themselves completely about drugs and drug abuse.

There are no easy answers or solutions on how to deal with teenage drug use. A straightforward discussion with your son or daughter is probably the best way to start. You need to seek out the advice from a professional organisation like The National Drugs Helpline, 0800 77 66 00, which offers free and confidential advice about drug and services. Another good helpline is RELEASE, 020 7603 8654/020 7729 9904, a 24 hr confidential helpline offering advice on drug use and legal issues. ADFAM National, 020 7928 8900, provides confidential support and information for families and friends of drug users. For Alcohol abuse you can call DRINKLINE on 0800 917 8282, which gives free and confidential advice and puts you in touch with a local service. Your family doctor is always a good first step as he/she will have an in-depth medical history and understanding of your family and will be able to offer the best help related to your family needs.

Be careful of your own tendency to deny the existence of a problem. If you have any doubt about the accuracy of a test result, take the specimen to your child’s doctor for confirmation. If you determine that the drug use had been purely recreational (i.e. maybe a one-off, or because their friends said “go on try it”), you may only need to clearly state your position and your concerns regarding drugs and the problems they cause, and then closely monitor their behaviour, and continue to test them frequently and randomly. If you suspect that your son/daughter is more deeply into drug abuse and/ or has other emotional, behavioural, or academic concerns, you should seek help immediately, in the first instance with your GP or other medical adviser. If things have progressed this far, you will need professional help to help your son/daughter and you for that matter. Don’t be shy about asking for help.

We work with Treatment Centres and Doctors who help and treat drug addiction everyday and we have had the privilege of meeting and visiting the centres. They take a tough line on Drug and Alcohol abuse as they have first hand experience of the consequences of serious drug and alcohol abuse. Don’t be afraid to help your teen if you find they have a serious drug or alcohol problem these professionals know what they are doing and do it with care, respect and consideration for the whole family.

We at AngelScope drug test our own children on a regular basis as we know the possible consequences of not finding out early. We hope you have found this information helpful, it is meant as a guide only and cannot replace professional help and advice.