Whether you should start drug testing your child remains a difficult decision for all parents. While the practice can tell you if your child uses drugs, you may not get a complete picture. Plus, your child may want to rebel against the test. As with all parental decisions, you must weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the practice before seeking the best drug testing in TX for your teenager. For advice on teen drug addiction, please contact Fort Behavioral Health today at 844.332.1807.
Advantages of Drug Testing Your Child
Drug testing your child gives you evidence of whether your teen used drugs. You can use this information to stop any arguments to the contrary. As long as your teen cooperates with the testing process, you can get significant advantages from it.
For example, if your teen has completed a teen addiction treatment program and is currently in recovery, drug testing may be a component of the required aftercare. In this instance, your child should cooperate both to fulfill the program requirements and to help themselves to stay away from substance use. This use of drug testing can aid the recovery process and keep your teen sober.
Disadvantages of Drug Testing Your Child
The most significant disadvantages of drug testing happen when your teen does not agree with the process. By testing your child without their consent, you become an enforcer instead of a parent. Your teen may feel that the drug test invades their privacy. To avoid breaching the trust that you have with your child, talk to them before testing to discuss why you feel the process will help and what the consequences are. If your child agrees to drug testing, it will help you avoid seriously harming the trust that you’ve carefully built with them over the years.
Arguments between you and your teen about drug testing can strain your relationship. While you want to ensure accurate results by watching them provide the required sample, they may not want to cooperate, resulting in anger and frustration. To circumvent this issue, consider turning over the task to a neutral adult, such as your child’s physician.
How to Choose Drug Testing in TX
The type of drug test you administer to your child, and its timing depends on the types of drugs that you suspect your teen uses. For example, most drugs leave no traces in your child’s system after three days, except for marijuana. Testing only once a week may not pick up heroin use from six or seven days prior.
Also, be aware that the most common form of drug tests does not detect if your child uses alcohol, ecstasy, ketamine, or inhalants. The average at-home urine test will look for the following drugs:
- Amphetamines
- PCP
- Cocaine
- Opiates
- Marijuana
However, if you suspect that your child takes other drugs, you will need a more comprehensive kit designed to test for the following:
- Inhalants
- Mushrooms
- LSD
- Barbiturates
- Methadone
- Prescription pain medication
When you test with a physician, the doctor will interview your child to see which drugs the teen used. The doctor will use this information to identify the correct test to administer. This takes the burden of finding the right test off of you. Also, as a physician-supervised test, the results will be more trustworthy than if you did the testing yourself.
Considerations for Drug Tests
Some tests can return false positives. This type of result means that your child did not use a substance, but the test detected a related compound in their urine. Cold medicines often give positives for methamphetamines. Ibuprofen use could appear as marijuana. Also, because marijuana stays in the system so long, up to a month in some cases, your child may no longer actively use the drug but still return a positive drug test.
If you notice that your teen frequently has positive drug test results, they may have a substance use disorder that requires treatment. There are many types of addiction therapy programs available to help your child with their struggles.
Seek Addiction Treatment Help from Fort Behavioral Health for Your Child
If, after getting drug testing in TX for your child, you may discover that your teen has a substance use problem. When this happens, contact us at Fort Behavioral Health at 844.332.1807. Our highly trained staff include masters’ level clinicians who know how to help your teen move toward recovery. Drug use does not have to ruin your teen’s life or your relationship with your child. You can help them find the drug addiction treatment program they need to overcome their struggles with addiction.
