ICON SAFETY CONSULTING INC.
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The simple answer is Yes, you can drug test your own child. Much like drug testing employees, testing a kid or teen helps keep the home environment safe. And intervention for teenage drug use can save lots of heartache down the road. Simply put, if your teen is still living at home, you have the right to drug test them. However, drug testing is not a simple thing in the home and drug testing without someone knowing IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
Why Do You Want To Drug Test Your Teen?
If you’re going to drug test, you must first have a good reason or probable cause for drug testing. Additionally, you must be able to explain rationally to your teenager why they are being subjected to a drug test. If your teenager already has a known drug problem, then this becomes a whole lot easier because your reason is likely related to recovery. Wanting to make sure your teen has stopped drugs and is staying off them is logical and the basis for having a drug-free home. This scenario makes perfect sense.
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Icon Safety Consulting inc. Occupational Drug And Alcohol Testing
But avoid drug-testing your kid just because you’re suspicious. You could end up losing trust in your home, and gaining a battle of wits over who can discover or hide drug use better. You may have age and wisdom…but kids have the Internet.
If your teen doesn’t have a known drug problem and you merely suspect that they might be doing drugs, it is a bit more complicated. Adolescence is a time in life when building trust is key to self-esteem and nothing smashes confidence like asking a kid to pee in a cup for your perusal. To a teenager who thought they were being a pretty good kid, this is may come as a slap in the face. And if they had no reason to rebel before, asking a teen to submit a drug test could potentially be the beginning of a deterioration in your relationship.
Still, you may have very just cause for considering drug testing. Maybe you have witnessed your child high or drunk. Perhaps you’ve found drugs in your teenager’s room. Or maybe your child has started hanging out with the "Wrong Crowd". Whatever your reasons, communicate them explicitly and tread carefully.
Whatever you do, do not try to physically force your child to give a sample. Do not hold them down and cut their hair or shove a testing swab in their mouth if they are unwilling to do it themselves. You may get the test done without their cooperation, but you will open a whole new, and potentially much more dangerous can of worms if you try to physically force them to do the test.
We will do the testing for you
The good thing about coming to us is that you don’t have to do any of the testing yourself. It is all handled for you by our trained professionals. Also, taking the time to go to a collection center/laboratory makes the drug testing seem more serious, so your teen won’t just think it’s something frivolous. Also, using our drug testing center can be more sensitive, as the tests themselves can detect drugs in lower quantities or at lower thresholds than at home testing kits.
And finally, Stick with it! You’ve already gone pretty far down the rabbit hole even just by reading this far and by deciding to drug test your teen so don’t do it half-heartedly or stop after a few weeks or months just because you keep getting negative results (that’s what you want, remember).
Good luck with it.