Testing It Up

Employers are not the only ones who are testing for illegal drug use.  Many parents are concerned about drug use with their kids and want to find a way to see if their teen is using drugs.  One way to do this is to use home testing kits.  There are several home testing kits that are on the market for different types of illegal drugs.

Parents who suspect that their child may be taking drugs can use the home testing kits as a way to see if there are drugs in the system.  The length of time that drugs will stay in a person’s system depends upon the drug.  The home testing kits test the drug through the urine, which eliminates the trace of the drug the quickest.  When it comes to drug testing, blood testing and hair drug tests are more effective ways to test for drugs as they pick up traces in the system for longer periods of time.  However, at home drug tests can be used to test for drugs provided they are used soon after the drugs are taken.

Parents should also know that there are detoxification drinks that teens can take to disguise the color of their urine and pass the at home drug tests.  Therefore, if a parent is thinking of giving an at home drug test to a teen, they need to do so on a random basis.  In most cases, the home testing kit will pick up traces of the drug when present, especially if it has been in the system for less than three to four days.  Parents who find that their children are taking drugs can then take the right measures to help prevent them from drug abuse in the future.   As these tests are available to be used at home, it can eliminate a trip to the doctor for a worried parent.

Employers are not the only ones who are testing for illegal drug use. Many parents are concerned about drug use with their kids and want to find a way to see if their teen is using drugs. One way to do this is to use home testing kits. There are several home testing kits that are on the market for different types of illegal drugs.

Parents who suspect that their child may be taking drugs can use the home testing kits as a way to see if there are drugs in the system. The length of time that drugs will stay in a person’s system depends upon the drug. The home testing kits test the drug through the urine, which eliminates the trace of the drug the quickest. When it comes to drug testing, blood testing and hair sampling are more effective ways to test for drugs as they pick up traces in the system for longer periods of time. However, at home drug tests can be used to test for drugs provided they are used soon after the drugs are taken.

Parents should also know that there are detoxification drinks that teens can take to disguise the color of their urine and pass the at home drug tests. Therefore, if a parent is thinking of giving an at home drug test to a teen, they need to do so on a random basis. In most cases, the home testing kit will pick up traces of the drug when present, especially if it has been in the system for less than three to four days. Parents who find that their children are taking drugs can then take the right measures to help prevent them from drug abuse in the future. As these tests are available to be used at home, it can eliminate a trip to the doctor for a worried parent.

Citizens of Arizona are putting marijuana legalization into their own hands – by starting an initiative for medical marijuana aimed at the 2010 ballot.

The Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project intends to file the initiative with the Secretary of State in a few weeks’ time. The group will then proceed with collecting signatures in support of the initiative. They will need at least 153,365 signatures by July 2010 in order to make the ballot.

The initiative is geared towards allowing seriously ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes. With a doctor’s recommendation, patients can use marijuana to treat conditions such as nausea, loss of appetite, chronic pain and muscle spasms. Marijuana has been used in other states to help in pain management therapy for conditions such as cancer and HIV/AIDS.

This is actually the third attempt by Arizonans to put the medical marijuana measure to a vote. Voters passed the initiatives both times, first in 1996 then again in 1998, but problems came up on those two occasions. In 1996, a drafting error invalidated the vote; in 1998, the measure was overturned by the state legislature.

There might be more promise that this attempt will make it, though. Since 1998, Arizona law has been changed. The Legislature will be unable to overturn a measure that has been passed by voters. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also announced a month ago that patients who are using medical marijuana in accordance with state laws will not face prosecution from the new federal government.

Arizona will be following in the footsteps of the 13 states that have already legalized medical marijuana. The Arizona initiative intends to establish dispensaries such as the ones that are operating in California, but these will strictly be operated by non-profit organizations that are regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services. In addition, not all patients who are allowed to use medical marijuana will be allowed to grow their own. Only those who live more than 25 miles away from a dispensary will be allowed to do that.

Whoever came up with the idea of smuggling cocaine through orthopedic casts thought it was a clever one. It turns out it’s not so clever after all.

In Spain, Spanish police officers arrested a man arriving at Barcelona’s international airport aboard a flight coming in from Chile after determining that his fractured left leg was encased in a cast made out of cocaine. This was revealed in a statement made by the Interior Ministry last Friday.

The man had actual leg fractures, located on two bones below the left knee, but the police are surmising that the man and his accomplices may have fractured them on purpose in order to give them a reason to apply the cocaine cast.

What the man or his cohorts might have been hoping to do was to get past airport checks and police controls. Anyone with an injury such as this would have been accorded priority treatment and escorted all through the journey, and he would have breezed through airport controls.

Police were carefully scrutinizing passengers coming off a late night flight from the Chilean capital of Santiago last Wednesday when they noticed the man and became suspicious of him. Closer inspection into his belongings revealed cocaine stashed in various places and using different hiding techniques — hidden amongst his belongings in his luggage, inside a six pack of beer, and even inside the aluminum legs of two stools that he brought with him.

It was at this juncture that they became suspicious even with the cast, and when it was tested, it was revealed that the cast was actually made of cocaine.

The police were able to seize 10.5 lbs of cocaine from the man. He is currently in a hospital in Barcelona, receiving proper treatment for his fractured legs.