Published: August 07, 2008 11:13 am            

New Albany HS parents to get drug testing kits

First distribution set for Be a Better Bulldog day

FREE DRUG TESTING KITS

• WHO: Parents of ninth-grade students at New Albany High School

• WHEN: 5:30 p.m., Monday

• WHERE: NAHS

• DETAILS: Learn about drug trends, signs of drug abuse and more

PARENTS OF STUDENTS OUTSIDE NAHS

• Each middle and high school will host its own distribution during open house within the first two months of school.

• Some dates are: Scribner Middle School, Sept. 2; Hazelwood Middle School, Sept. 9.

• The dates for Highland Hills Middle and Floyd Central High schools were not available as of press time, but New Albany Police Officer Steve Harris said those will be within August or September.

• • •

The New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated Schools Corp. will be hosting programs that will give parents free drug testing kits at each of its middle and high schools within the next two months during each of the schools’ open houses.

The first will be Monday at New Albany High School for Be a Better Bulldog day.

School Resource Officer Steve Harris, with the New Albany Police Department, said the programs will include information on drug trends, terminology, photos of drugs and paraphernalia and tips for talking with children about drugs.

“I think parents are really going to have an eye opening experience with this,” Harris said, referring to a quiz where parents will identify what is candy and what is a drug.

He said parents tend to score a 50 percent on that quiz. He said many drugs that are being promoted to kids look like popular candies, such as Pop Rocks, Sweet Tarts and breath mints.

“The open houses are really geared toward the adults,” Harris said. “Most of the kids probably already know it [drug education], sadly enough. As adults, we kind of fall behind on what’s going on in pop culture. This brings us up to speed on what’s going on.”

At those voluntary sessions, families will be allowed to take home one free drug testing kit if they choose to.

Dave Rarick, director of communications for the school corporation, said the tests do more than just check for illegal and prescription drugs.

“If you take a test, you don’t have to necessarily use it,” he said. “What it is, it is a reminder that it is not acceptable in that family to use drugs.”

He said it also gives the kids an excuse not to use that their peers will understand. They can say they are afraid of getting tested when they get home.

The testing kits are provided by Project 7th Grade, which is fully-funded through notMYkid — a non-profit organization — and First Check Diagnostics — a home drug testing company. The NAPD, Floyd County Sheriff’s Department and NA-FC schools are working together to provide the kits to those who want them. The kits are available for families with children in sixth through ninth grades.

Harris said this not only helps the children, but also the community.

“The whole community has a stake in this,” Harris said. “About 75 percent of all crime is drug related, with everything from theft to murder.”

He added that the community then has to pay for the trial, treatment and incarceration of those people.

“Anything we can do to knock a hole in the drug trade, we’re going to do it,” he said.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.