 | Drug Testing: Drug test kit for teenagers withdrawn from sale |
 A home drug test kit has been withdrawn from sale, after Green MP Nandor Tanczos lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission.
Called DrugCheck5, the kit was marketed by "drug prevention company" Prove It as a way for parents to find out whether their children were using drugs.
Prove-It managing director Nicky Doherty said the kit worked on a urine test and took five minutes to give indications on marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine and methamphetamine, and opiates heroin and morphine.
Nandor Tanczos lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission, as he said the kits were not proven to be accurate and could have caused hurt in families. "Even if one test out of 100 were false, that is still one family in 100 at risk of being torn apart from the consequences of a false reading."
The Parents Centre said it feared the drug-testing kit could destroy relationships between parents and teenagers.
The Commerce Commission announced on 30 May that it had dropped its investigation into the controversial drug-testing kit as the kit had been withdrawn from sale.
 02/04/03 Teenage drug tests "unreliable and dangerous"
 02/04/03 New drug test for parents fails communication test
03/04/03 "Prove It" must prove it to Commission
Education and lobby group the Parents Centre said today it feared the drug testing kit could destroy relationships between parents and teenagers.
In a statement Parents Centre said the test failed to address the real need of parents to develop strong channels of communication with their children.
" Resorting to drug testing is the best way to destroy a relationship with a teenager. What happens after the test, whether positive or negative? What happens to the relationship if a false positive is produced by the test?" the organisation said in a statement.
" This is an irresponsible product, which will leave parents stranded in their attempt to address a very important concern. Drug testing offers a false hope for parents."
The kit was a "time bomb set to destroy the already delicate balance of the parent/youth relationship," the statement said.
For those teenagers who have chosen to break the law, finding ways to dodge a urine test or produce a false sample would not resolve the problem, and would only aggravate a challenging relationship.
- NZPA
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