Drug Testing

Horizon High School: Giving Teens A Second Chance

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Addiction, Drug Testing, Raising Healthy Kids on June 9th, 2010

Being a junkie at fifteen does not necessarily mean that your future as a degenerate has already been set in stone, especially if an institution such as Horizon High School is available to you. Its mission, stated on its website, reads as follows: “to provide a school that fosters emotional, social and academic growth for students who want to learn in an alcohol-free, drug-free environment.”

horizon high schoolAn article on the Wisconsin State Journal shares how the school helps teenagers and serves the community. It is a private, non-profit institution operating in two rooms at the Neighborhood House Community Center in Madison, Wisconsin. It caters to students who are recovering from addiction to drugs or alcohol – or both. Students who apply to the school are interviewed along with their parents and fill out an application.

The school opened in January, 2005, and has thus far served more than 50 students, some of whom have earned a diploma, returned to a traditional high school or earned their General Equivalency Degree. At this time, there are nine students studying in the school.

Lori Battista LaFond, director of outreach and marketing for Horizon High School, shared that classes follow a curriculum that meets state standards. In addition, it provides each student with one hour of counseling everyday and subjects students to weekly random drug testing.

Madison’s director for Connections Counseling Shelley Dutch shared that Horizon began with some parents of teenagers who underwent treatment but suffered relapses after returning to their schools. Horizon receives enrollees any time during the year and almost all of its students have undergone inpatient drug or alcohol treatment.

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Random Drug and Alcohol Testing for EMS Employees at Sullivan County

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on June 7th, 2010

While nothing is etched in stone yet, a report on the Times-News Online revealed plans to conduct random alcohol and drug testing in addition to pre-hire drug testing to employees of the Sullivan County Emergency Medical Service in Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Emergency Medical ServiceThis will affect about a hundred employees composed of medically licensed or certified professionals such as paramedics and EMTs, as revealed by Sullivan County EMS Director Gary Mayes. The Sullivan County Commission has been asked to adopt the policy this month.

The policy is basically an expansion of a drug testing policy that has been in place in the county since 1994. The original policy covers only employees of the highway and sanitation departments of the county and mandated alcohol and drug testing for employees who held commercial driver’s licenses and needed to perform “safety sensitive functions.”

Mayes shared that the policy’s expansion to the employees of the County EMS serves to increase the safety of both the public and EMS employees. At this time, drug testing is only conducted if an accident occurs, according to Mayes.

What the new policy will call for is required pre-employment testing for all applicants for positions in the Sullivan County EMS as well as random drug testing for all EMS employees. The resolution has already been endorsed by the Executive Committee of the County Commission. Times-News shared that the Administrative Committee and the Budget Committee of the Sullivan County Commission will be discussing the issue this week, scheduled for Monday and Thursday nights respectively.

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Drug Testing to Screen Medical Patients

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing, Prescription Drug Abuse on June 6th, 2010

prescription drugsDoctors and staff at the Wattles Park Family Practice have implemented a policy that called for drug testing to screen patients, according to a report on Newschannel 3. Patients at the practice sign an agreement regarding disclosing such things as drug use, so those who do not disclose it up front are in violation of the agreement; to date, there are patients who have been let go by the practice due to illegal drug use.

Dr. Mark Henry shared: “There’s been a lot of reaction, it’s mixed. The more conventional person that doesn’t use any chronic pain medication, they seem very supportive of it, they feel that there’s been lots of misuse of medication.” Henry also shared that the practice has observed a “major increase” in use of illegal drugs, and has encountered patients who tested positive for heavy use of cocaine.

According to a spokesperson of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Detroit, there are also instances where people from outside of West Michigan pose as patients in the area in order to get prescriptions that can either be shared or re-sold to others. It is a reality that, while totally illegal, is happening in the state.

The doctor shares further: “It is suspicious when somebody calls up and says they want to be a new patient, they take chronic pain medication and we try to obtain some history and they can be difficult. I’d like to say they should be honest with their physician about what they use both recreationally and also prescription, if they’re given a prescription they should use the prescription as directed.”

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Lindsay Lohan Passes Drug Tests!

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Alcohol Abuse, Drug Addiction, Drug Testing on June 4th, 2010

Since Lindsay Lohan appeared in court, was fitted with a SCRAM bracelet and ordered to undergo random drug tests; she has undergone two drug tests. According to a report on RadarOnline.com, Ms Lohan has thus far been doing great and proved herself clean through the tests.

Lindsay LohanShe also has had no problems with her SCRAM bracelet so far, despite the fact that she has not exactly given up on going around bars and nightclubs. She was said to have tweeted that she was now big on water – instead of going for the hard alcoholic stuff, even when she was out and about at night.

RadarOnline.com quoted a source, who said that Ms. Lohan was “clear of illegal substances” and that “she has already taken two tests and passed both.” The site also mentioned reporting previously that Lindsay has expressed to her friends that she will not have any problems with the random drug tests or with giving up alcohol, and her friends have shared that she was doing well. So far, there is no trouble in the horizon for Lindsay and it seems clear that she will meet all that is required of her by the terms of her probation.

Further proof of Lindsay Lohan’s sobriety is the fact that the prosecutor handling her case, Danette Meyers, has said that she has not been notified so far regarding the results of Lindsay’s random tests. She said that she will only be notified if Lindsay failed any of these tests.

Lindsay is due back in court for a probation violation hearing next month.

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Hong Kong to Pilot Hair Drug Testing

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on June 2nd, 2010

According to a feature on 7th Space Interactive, the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau in Hong Kong has launched a pilot hair drug testing scheme.

Ms. Sally Wong, Commissioner for Narcotics in Hong Kong, said that the scheme was launched in order to have an alternative drug-testing method to those who are involved in drug treatment and rehabilitation as well as services for the youth. In addition, the pilot will serve as a gauge as to the demand for this particular method that service providers will have in preparation for the transfer of this technology to the industry.

hair sampleOrdinarily, urine drug testing is used as the main method for testing for drug use in Hong Kong. While it is convenient and fast, it can only detect drug use within a window of a few days; if not done at random, drug users will have time to cleanse themselves of drugs in their system before submitting themselves to a test. In contrast, the use of hair samples for drug testing has the ability to detect drug use from a range of weeks – even months.

Ms. Wong mentioned that hair and urine testing will play complementary roles with each other.

She also shared that for the duration of the pilot scheme, the Government Laboratory will be testing 50 hair samples a week for cannabis, cocaine, cough syrup, ecstasy, ice and ketamine. The hair samples – as in urine samples, will have to be provided voluntarily.

The scheme is open to Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Substance Abusers, drug treatment and rehabilitation centres, Substance Abuse Clinics under the Hospital Authority and youth outreaching groups.

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Utah High Schools to Conduct Random Drug Tests

Posted by DrugFreeHomes in Drug Testing on June 1st, 2010

Students who would like to participate in sports and other activities at Ogden High and Mount Ogden Junior high will be subjected to random drug testing, according to a report on the Standard-Examiner. This comes after the school board gave its approval on a pilot program for implementation during the next school year. Estimated cost is $2,500, with the school board set to shoulder half of the expenses while the rest will be shouldered by the schools.

school drug testsDistrict athletic director Ken Crawford said that employing drug testing will serve as a way to encourage student athletes to say no if and when they are placed in a situation where they are given the opportunity to use drugs.

The program will involve the testing of three students each week at Ogden High and one student a week at Mount Ogden Junior High. For Mount Ogden, only ninth graders will be included in the random drug testing. Students who will undergo testing are to be selected at random, and the faculty restroom will be used for the tests. Students who will undergo testing will be asked about prescription medications that they are taking prior to undergoing the test.

It is said to be patterned after a program that has been in used at Bonneville High School for a number of years. Crawford shares: “They have seen great success with theirs and we are hoping for the same thing.”

The contract for administering the weekly tests has been awarded to Liquid Solutions. The district policy involves drug testing students who are involved in school activities, so in addition to athletes, cheerleaders and band members may need to undergo random testing as well. The specific details will still need to be finalized.

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