Testing a child for drugs raises more questions than it answers - makesure you know your stuff before drugs become an issue, writes Louise Holden.
This month the Department of Health launches the National Drug Awareness Campaign. This week Irish parents will, for the first time, be able to buy home drug-testing kits over the counter. Information and the power to use it - should parents breathe a collective sigh of relief?
The availability of home drug-testing kits and the current media campaign will provide useful platforms from which parents can launch their own domestic drug strategies.
There's no sense in testing your child, getting a result and having no idea what it means or what to do next. You've got your answer - but you're no closer to tackling the issue: in fact the use of the test may have damaged the relationship between parent and child, diminishing the scope for honest dialogue and progress.
Likewise, there's little point in watching an anti-drugs advertisement with your children and feeling relieved that "someone" is tackling the issue. You need to take the process several steps further.
Rita O'Reilly, manager of the parent support organisation Parentline, believes that information and communication are more potent deterrents than any home-testing device.
For younger children who are not yet at risk from drugs, O'Reilly suggests that the drug-testing kit could provide a useful trigger for a discussion. "If younger children know that there is the possibility of being tested, and that their parents are clued in about the availability and effects of drugs, they may be less likely to start."
Demonstrating to your children that you have an understanding of the drug scene is very important, says O'Reilly. One occasional ecstasy and cannabis user I spoke to (aged 17) said that her mother's attempts to warn her off drugs were so hysterical and ill-informed that she trusted the advice of her peers more readily.
"My mother is always telling me how dangerous drugs are, but she doesn't know anything about them. She thinks if I smoke a joint I'll end up a heroin addict and I know that's not true, so I don't really listen to her any more."
Parents with a general horror of drug use, but little understanding of the differences between individual drugs and their effects, may undermine their own position by displaying ignorance or adding to the confusion.
'If a young person hears conflicting reports on drugs and their effects from peers, the media and from you, he may decide to trust the source with the most attractive version of events.
"Demonstrate to your child early on, before they are at risk, that you have an understanding of the range of drugs available, their effects and dangers," advises O'Reilly. "You are more likely to be considered a trusted source of information and support later on when drugs become an issue in a child's life."
And they will become an issue. Children are experimenting with recreational drugs from as early 11 or 12. One in 10 Irish students in their mid-teens use ecstasy and almost one in five use cannabis, according to a 1995 European Schools Project on Alcohol and other Drugs, conducted among 50,000 16 year olds in 26 European countries.
These figures shouldn't add to your sense of panic, but should reassure you that you and your children can stay in control. After all, we don't have a 20 per cent drug addiction rate in the country despite the reported 20 per cent cannabis usage rate among teenagers.
Telling your child that cannabis use will lead to hard drug addiction, social alienation and certain early demise will not help your credibility. On the other hand, telling them cannabis tar is 50 per cent more carcinogenic than tobacco tar or that exam students who use cannabis to relax are interfering with the hippocampus, a brain area responsible for memory formation, is providing solid, meaningful information that they can use to make decisions.
Stephen Rowan, director of the Rutlands Project, urges parents to establish "a working dialogue with the next generation" and suggests that early communication is far better than late intervention. However, he praises parents who face up to the reality of drugs in the family and admits that drug-testing kits provide parents with the facts - useful in any exchange.
"If you decide to use a testing kit and your child tests positive - don't panic," Rowan cautions. "The likelihood is that they are at an experimental rather than an addictive stage. Even still, take the situation seriously. Any drug use puts your child at increased risk of accident, underperformance at school and involvement in criminal activity."
Rowan suggests a visit to the GP. He or she may be able to get a handle on the level of usage or refer you to someone who can. "The Irish Association of Alcohol and Addiction Counsellors can link you up with general counsellors in the community who have experience in this area and who can look at the situation in a broad context."
Rowan also feels that parents can help each other.
"Many parents go through the same experiences and find ways to cope. Ask other parents with older children how they have tackled drugs and get their advice."
According to John Muller, marketing director of Hunter Diagnostics, the company that has brought drug-testing kits to Ireland, "many thousands" of Irish parents have been in touch looking to buy the kits already. A positive result will raise many, many more questions than it answers, so be prepared.
