Role of Drug Testing in Preventing Illegal Drug Abuse

One of the formidable problems today that is being confronted by all the societies across countries is the rising incidences of drug abuse. This problem is increasing in gigantic proportions that the policy makers are finding it hard to root out the problem. Unless preventive measures are taken, the problem would engulf the whole community.

Need for strict regulations:
In view of this growing problem, there is absolutely a need for norms regarding drug testing. Illegal drug abuse will lead to decreased productivity of workforce, poor academic scores of students, road accidents, etc.

It is for this reason that drug testing should be made mandatory at every place. Thus, students, employees, drivers, armed forces, everybody should be brought under the ambit of this regulation entailing compulsory drug testing including regular and random screening on potential and suspicious abusers.

Above all, individual parents should take the responsibility to urge their teens to undergo at-home-drug testing. For employers, to rule out joining of drug abusing candidates, mandatory drug screening could be done. Likewise, schools and colleges should emphasize testing especially on the teenagers and those in their late teen years.

Few effective prevention programs to establish a drug free society:
As the incidence of drug abuse spreads among all active sections of population, certain measures would help us all to create a drug free society.

•Home drug testing: Parents should be on the lookout for any change in the behavior of their teen kids. If suspected, parents can get their kids tested for drugs. For this, ready-to-use test kits are available. Economical, easy to use, test kits are useful in testing for drugs without the need of having to go to hospital or nursing home for professional help.

This lets parents know the substances their kids are abusing. Parents have to follow the immediate course of action after consulting an expert physician. If the kid is in the initial stage of developing dependence on illegal drugs, home drug testing is an effective way to prevent it from worsening.

•Drug testing at schools: Many a time, school going kids get addicted to substance abuse because of easy access to drugs. School authorities should adopt norms involving drug testing with regard to evaluating a student. In this, they should include both random screening as well as routine screening. Such measures would create sense of responsibility and awareness among school children and would stop them from being addicted to drugs. Keeping children away from drugs would help them perform better academically; it would also pave way to good health.

•On-road drug testing: Drugged driving is one of the significant causes of road accidents. Usage of any intoxicating substance while driving is dangerous because the parts of the brain that are responsible for creating quick reaction to new situations, coordination of organs like hands, legs, etc., and making judgment are badly affected. Thus, drugged driving results in fatal accidents.

Thus, in the context of high incidence of accidents, testing on roads and taking stern measures against the abuser as per the law, would go a long way in preventing drugged driving.

Use reliable test kits:
So as to combat the drug abuse, testing becomes imperative. One can undergo testing for drug abuse at a hospital. Alternatively, one can also undergo testing without seeing a medical professional with the help of drug testing kits.

These drug kits use different samples like saliva, urine and hair to detect the drug abused by the individuals. These kits are reliable, economical and simple to use. They give fast and accurate results. Kits that conform to SAMHSA cut-off levels and are approved by FDA are more reliable. These test kits can be used in schools, workplaces, homes, etc., for random and routine drug testing.

In addition, these kits are also available in the form of multi-panel test kits, for testing more than one drug, i.e., up to ten drugs. These multi-panel test kits cut down substantially, the time and the cost of testing.

As illegal drug abuse affects the society by affecting the people of all ages, both physically and psychologically, it becomes important to prevent the spread of abuse among more people. This is possible by implementing stringent laws and regulations on preventing drug abuse, by making drug testing mandatory at different levels and by creating awareness of the deadly effects of drug abuse among parents, teens, employers, etc.