The Beauty Battalion - Featuring Beauty In All Shapes & Sizes February 2017 | Page 31

Unfortunately, there’s a

whole industry of

products out there that help people cheat the drug tests,” says Dr. Matt McCarty, CEO and founder of Genotox Laboratories (www.genotoxlabs.com). “Even if you decide to make your child use a urine test, savvy teenagers know that once you send them into the restroom alone they can substitute a friend’s urine or synthetic urine and trick you.”

The challenge for parents is to confirm that their handy drug-testing kit really is testing their teen’s urine and not someone else’s. They aren’t the only ones who face that predicament. Drug-test cheating is a problem that human resource departments, law enforcement and other agencies or businesses that test for drugs encounter as well.

Cheating the tests also is a problem when monitoring patients who are taking opioid medications under a doctor’s care, or who are undergoing rehab and recovery from addiction.

But there are ways to foil the cheaters. Genotox Labs, for example, developed a product called ToxProtect™ that adds a cheek swab to the urine-collection process so the DNA can be matched.

“With a DNA test, there’s no maybe about it,” McCarty says. “It either matches or it doesn’t match.”

What might lead a parent to insist on a drug test for their teen? The National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence says there are drug-abuse warning signs parents can look for, and McCarty says all parents should be on the lookout for these signs. They include:

Physical and health signs.

Bloodshot eyes; pupils smaller or larger than normal; frequent nosebleeds; changes in appetite or sleep patterns; sudden weight loss or weight gain;

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