Sunday, April 24, 2011

Importance of Conducting Drug Addiction Tests At Schools

Number of young people who are abusing drugs are growing and this is a major concern for the the society. Students are abusing drugs because of the stress they experience at the school or at the home. This stress is caused because of many reasons like the pressures of performing well in school and getting into a good college, lack of sleep due to school, family life, social life and work. These youngsters are more vulnerable to the drugs and they are easily attracted to drugs as they do not know the adverse consequences of using drugs.

There are many types of drugs which can be abused by the youngsters, among them the most commonly used drugs are Cigarettes, Alcohol and Marijuana. MTF reveals that, by the end of their high school nearly 45 percent of the young Americans have tried cigarettes and one out of five 12th graders were current smokers in 2008. According to MTF, nearly three quarters i.e. 72 percent of the students consumed alcohol by the end of 12th grade in 2008. According to MTF 2008, by the end of their high schooling 42.6 percent of American youth tried Marijuana.

So it is necessary to conduct the drug test in schools in order find out the student drug abusers. There are many types of drug tests and to detect a particular drug, particular drug test can be conducted. For instance, cigarette abuse can be detected in urine for 2 to 4 days using cotinine test, alcohol abusers can be detected using a breath sample and with the help of alcohol breathalyzers. Marijuana can be detected in urine within 3 to 5 days and sometimes up to 30 days depending upon the amount of the drug abused.

If there are any students abusers they are sent for the treatment and this treatment depends on the type of drug and level of the addiction. Parents should also observe their children and if they find any changes in the behavior of the children they can do the test at the home by using simple test kits. Early detection of drug abuse in teens by school authorities and parents helps in preventing the spread of drug abuse among teens.

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