A Drug test is scientific examination of urine, hair, and other fluid samples like saliva or sweat from the body, which detects whether a person is taking drugs or not. Drug test are generally done at schools, work places, government offices, medical institutions, and more. However, nowadays even parents can decide whether their children are taking drugs or not with the help of simple home drug testing kits. Parents can conveniently get samples without awareness of their children and perform drug test.

Commonly abused drugs
The common harmful drugs are THC (marijuana, weed, smoke, pot, hash), Cocaine (crack, skitz, snow), Methamphetamines/MDMA (ice, ecstasy, crank, crystal, glass), Opiates (heroin, horse, oxycontin vicodin, morphine, codeine, nicotine), Amphetamines (speed, uppers, go), and Benzodiazepines (bars, roofies, date rape drug, valium, librium, xanax). Different drugs have different consequences. Some drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine, may create an intense “rush” (hurriedness) and create feelings of tremendous energy. Other drugs, like heroin, benzodiazepines or the prescription oxycontin, may create feelings of relaxation and calm (motionless). Most of the drugs have excess stimulation of the pleasure point of the brain in common.

When used relevantly, prescription drugs will have good effects medically or psychologically. Prescription drugs in the opiate family, such as vicodin (hydrocodone) and oxycontin, are generally specified for chronic pain or recovery from surgery. Benzodiazapines, such as Valium or Xanax are prescribed to treat anxiety. If these drugs are used without prescription, then it gives rise to many health problems.

Self-testing
The single FDA cleared are self-test urine test kits that produce an instant display of the results when an experiment is conducted on a single specific type of drug. The cassette-type devices are very convenient for self-testing purposes, with an accuracy of more than 96%. The self-test kits are user friendly with simple-to-understand visual results that are displayed in 5 minutes after a one-step qualitative analysis. The kits are available in single or five panel test configurations and can be comfortably stored at room temperature.

Drug testing is widely accepted in treatment and research settings because it is mainly believed more accurate than self-report. Urine testing (technique used in self testing) generally can identify drug use only for a short time after consumption, usually 1 to 2 days. So, drugs like cannabinoids are not detected as they are identified after weeks in constant users. For such type of drug inspections, hair drug tests would prove to be more advantageous because of the longer duration of detection.

Children testing
Children get quickly impressed and influenced by drugs as they are ignorant, less qualified and wrapped with care by parents. Home drug tests on children are done when parents suspect the abnormal behavior of children or as a preventive measure. Home testing kits that generate instant results include breath tests, saliva tests, and urine tests. Generally, the metabolites of saliva or urine react with reagents and antigens on the test strips and change colors indicating either a positive or negative result. Parents need to conduct tests by strictly following given directions to eliminate false positives.

Advantages of Home drug testing are, if teens know that random drug test will be conducted periodically, they may feel afraid to take punishments if detected. Another advantage of home based drug testing policy is that it increases the ability to detect drug use presence at early stages and treatment can be easily provided.

Some people would like to remain unidentified, so they were afraid to go for drug tests to any laboratory or consultant. For them home drug testing kits are very helpful. Home drug testing makes the test results personal and private. It is friendly for those who doubt to take these drug tests outside and also for parents to analyze drug abuse in their children.