Pubdate: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW) Website: http://www.drugsense.org LETTER OF THE WEEK CHANCES OF FALSE POSITIVE TOO HIGH My applause to the enlightened Galena High School parents who voted against mandatory random drug testing. The legal issues here, although disturbing, are not my area of expertise and I'll refrain from comment. As an analytical chemist whose career was largely devoted to drug analysis, I do feel qualified to make the following comments: Drug testing is not something that should be placed in the hands of bureaucratic amateurs. All screening tests can produce false positives and, depending on the manufacturer, some more than others. Rather than counseling, a positive result for a screening test requires a more rigorous confirmatory test, usually GCMS. Additionally, there are tests to confirm the integrity of the sample to check for adulteration, dilution for example. I seriously doubt that all of this, if done right, can be achieved for $40. For such testing to hold up, it should be performed in an accredited laboratory where control results are included. The possibility that even one student could have a young life upended with a false positive result is enough for me as a Galena parent to vote no. Marian Pettibone Reno Pubdate: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV) Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n000/a173.html Note: From the newspaper's website "Marian Pettibone of Reno is this week's winner of the Silver Pen award for the best letter published in the Gazette-Journal during the previous week. Weekly Silver Pen winners are selected by the newspaper's editorial board based on the quality of writing, clarity of expression and strength of opinion." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake