More and more high schools are taking it upon themselves to be watchdogs for student drug and alcohol abuse. Random drug and alcohol high school testing is becoming more and more common in American high schools across the state. Using new drug and alcohol testing technology makes it harder for students to tamper with the results or use some other device to deter the outcome.



New findings discovered by a team of English and German scientists at Trimega Laboratories have found a way to test for alcohol abuse up to a 12 month history. Meaning, instead of using a urine sample from a student to test for drugs or alcohol, schools can randomly choose a student who will then provide a sample of scalp hair to go through a series of tests to determine how much alcohol and drugs have been consumed, as well as the last time they consumed them.

EtG alchol testing testing, EtG or ethyl glucuronide, is a sensitive test using a urine sample but it will only prove up to 80 days of drug and alcohol use, with hair alcohol testing, up to 12 months of use can be found. Some parents and students find this kind of testing both great news as well as an intrusion of privacy.

Obviously, more students than parents are speaking out against the random testing, claiming that what they partake in over a weekend, perhaps at a wedding or Saturday night party is their own business and that there is a ?real? problem if students are coming to school or school events high and or intoxicated.

Some parents, school counselors and other people in the community think that hair alcohol testing in schools is a great idea for prevention of worse problems that could come out of early alcohol abuse, save kids from drinking and driving or other dangerous acts under the influence of drugs and alcohol as well as set a standard for high school athletics. Other parents feel that it is an abuse of too much power into someone's life. Some other parents think that their child could be wrongly accused simply because many household products contain small amounts of alcohol like mouthwash, cold medicine, hand sanitizers and interfere with the test.

Principals and Superintendents find that random drug testing can help prevent students coming to school functions under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Whereas parents feel that if they are concerned that their child is abusing drugs or alcohol that they should be the ones in charge of testing their child, with a take home drug test from the corner store, for example.

One thing is for certain, the EtG alcohol testing technology has helped employers find sober employees, social workers help parents gain custody of their children and put proven guilty criminals behind bars. Whether or not the high schools in your area will promote random EtG alcohol screening will depend on your school's district. You can find out more by going to your school district's webpage.