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It has never been easy to be a parent, but in today's complex world the challenges are especially puzzling. Consider the simple question of helping children be drug-free.
Ideally parents should do this by example and education. But since such a large percentage of parents have used or use drugs, that solution is limited. It also runs the risk of clearly defining for children what they should rebel against. Better to rely on the cool, impersonal precision of scientific technology. There are fortunately a variety of products to help.
But in turning to technology, still other questions are raised:
1 ) Which technology? In the best freemarket tradition, parents have many choices. They can spend $50 to be trained to administer a psychological screening measure that claims "objective scoring. . with an empirically tested accuracy of 88 percent." They can obtain a small vacuum cleaner-like device that samples the air around a child's desk in search of tell-tale drug molecules. They can purchase a drug-identifying spray can, use it on personal possessions such as a wallet or books, wipe this with a paper towel in search of tell-tale color changes suggesting the presence of drugs. While these products may indicate the presence of drugs, they don't reveal how they got there. Your innocent child's property or air space might have been contaminated by the presence of a real drug user your child happens to know - and what about the 12 percent of the time the "objective scoring" measure fails?
Better to go right to the source - urine.
2) What age to start the testing? Given the precociousness of today's children and the lurking temptations, if you really love your child you probably can't start too early. Starting when children are being toilettrained will...