Drug Testing Your Teen: Would You/Do You Do It?

Posted by Vulnadia on May 11, 2010 at 07:46 AM A situation has presented itself where an old friend of my son's has fallen into some trouble. His Mom caught him smoking Pot, and put him in Brentwood to help him. Now, we've been determined to be the "Good" or "Acceptable" friend (the boys were close and shared a mutual friend who died this past July.) My problem is, that the addiction gene is very strong on both sides of our family. It's something that my son fears after watching what drug use has done and is doing to my sister over the years and how it affected her family, specifically her children. He remembers taking care of his cousins at school. He was always making sure they were okay on the playground, before and after school. But now, I'm torn. I'm at a place where I want the boys to be able to be close friends like they used to be. Circumstances had things where this friend started high school in a different parish and basically fell in with the wrong crowd. I don't know the full story. I don't even know if it was a one time deal or a habit yet. But my worry is that it might somehow tempt my own child somehow. Not that I don't trust my child at the moment, but rather I trust that he act like a child his age as well. What are your feelings on drug testing your teens? Can this be done routinely during well-exams through your pediatrician's office? Do other people do this as a form of prevention? Do you know someone who has gone through this? With us, it would be preventative, essentially. I don't want to look up and find myself in a situation like what happened with my sister years ago. I want my child to be a child, yet at the same time, I want to make sure that while I can, I can help him head off any problems he may encounter. What is the right thing to do in this situation? I cannot trust the friend at all for obvious reasons, but at the same time, I want to help him so badly. He wasn't allowed any closure with the death of their friend. Instead of being able to go to the funeral services,he was whisked away via custody agreement to his father's house. We weren't even able to get him for my son's birthday in November even though we tried. I have encouraged this child's Mother to switch schools and try and put her son in school with mine where his old friends from middle school are (mostly anyways) and where he is closer to what he used to have. Am I making a mistake in encouraging this? How do you feel about the idea of drug testing every few months at well checkups as prevention? I really need some advice on this one. by Vulnadia on May 11, 2010 at 12:00 PM if we do the drug testing, it would be done along with his regular labwork that is done for his medication adjustments- he wouldnt know we were doing it basically my father is who has suggested doing this after what happened & what he went thru with my sister. the thing is i really dont know. I've talked to my kiddo about everything-his friend didnt give him much in the way of details on the situation either really- & he really is still petrified of everything after watching what happened to sister so that is good- my father is pushing that i add in the testing & not tell him- we are supposedly able to do this thru age 17 i believe is what daddy was told? but i just do not know