<p>I don’t see how whether CDK does drug testing on offspring has any bearing on whether or not it was justified for the kid the OP tells us about. When cdk may desire drug testing, if at all, has no bearing on the Op’s scenario.</p>
<p>Is the drug testing the OP talked about justified in any way? I see ways that it could be, and I mentioned a couple, since you asked, in post 10. Am I sure it’s justified? Heck no. But to answer your question, do I see any ways a parent might want to drug test their college kid? Yes, I can see ways there could be. Are those ways truly present in the Op’s scenario? None were mentioned, so I cannot draw a conclusion.</p>
<p>It is also illegal to drive 65 in a 55 m.p.h. zone. But how does that apply to this thread? There is no reason given to believe parents kidnapped student and stole blood or urine.(“forced”). There is no law requiring parents to pay for college, either.</p>
<p>And I am happy to report I was able to read your whole posts(16 and 20), 1986. I had no trouble reading the non-capitalized sentences. I didn’t need the caps to read the whole message.</p>
<p>As a teacher I see too many parents who “support their child” by enabling the bad behavior, trying to be their friend not their parent, or hiring the lawyer, or making sure they make the teacher’s life hell so as to break him/her. More power to these parents. If you have a child that has never given you cause to mistrust, you wouldn’t do this. Common sense.</p>
<p>While there may be aspects of that 3 yr old magazine article that are reasonable, I agree with those who said there is much about this individual situation we do not know. Maybe it was a pre-arranged agreement between the kid, his parents and his therapist, that he would have random drug screens, with consequences tied to the result. Who knows. It is none of our business, really, and certainly nothing to be condescending about. And by the way, I believe off-the-shelf tests are more reiable today than they were 3 years ago when that article came out.</p>
<p>I tell you what, if I had any reason to believe it was necessary to drug test either of my kids, I would do it in a heartbeat! I also would have searched their rooms, read their emails, text messages and monitored their computer usage. That is my job as a parent. I was not put on this earth to be their friend, they have friends of their own, as do I. As a parent, it is my responsibility to keep them safe and healthy. I do not need the police to do that job for me!</p>
<p>Friend of mine in college back in the “wild '80s” had “cool parents” that were okay with his regular pot use. Then he had some weird behavior, long story short: ended up in an ER and had drug test. Turned out his recent “stash” was laced with PCP. Lead to many problems, he swore off all “stuff”, became ultra vegan, no anything person, but still says he has some residual problems from PCP flashbacks. Not necessarily a reason for spot drug testing, but if your kid has problems, don’t assume it isn’t drugs.</p>
<p>My guess would be that there is a prior history of drug problems and the parents had probably made drug testing part of the agreement about helping the son pay for college. I don’t find that unreasonable. We have a family member with drug problems and her Mom and grandma have been emotionally drained by her behavior (including stealing to finance her habit), and financially drained through their numerous attempts to help her by paying for repeated failed rehab attempts. If they were to try and help her financially again, and in an endeavor such as college, then making drug testing a requirement would be completely understandable. In fact, based on prior painful history, I think it would be foolish not to set some sort of requirement.</p>
<p>If the parents were just drug testing without their being some underlying reason behind it, then I would not agree with that. My guess is that they have a good reason.</p>
<p>Because people with serious drug addictions lie. All the time. To their parents. And once parents have been lied to enough times, seen their kid in jail, had their kid get into car accidents, recognized that maybe their kid is dealing as well as using and been through a hell that most of us cannot relate to, they stop trusting. I have friends who went through this and they needed to test their kid. They could not have him in the home while he was using and they needed to know when that was. Most parents who have kids with a serious drug problem find they need to do things that other parents may not approve of.</p>
<p>…until they have a reason not to. Then they need to help change harmful behaviors. When I read what the parents did, my first thought was exactly what swimcat and another poster wrote. These parents may already have concerns, and have an “agreement” with their child. It may be a case of trying to make sure that their child does not fail, rather succeeds. If that is the case, I completely support them, and would do the same thing.</p>
<p>“Spoke to S and found out a floor mate had his parents show up unexpectedly after a long drive to spring a test on the lil’ tyke. Good for them. S didn’t think the kid would pass.” OP</p>
<p>mimK6, I agree. My comment you quoted above was in reaction to the sneakiness of how it was done, as described by the OP.</p>
<p>It is hard to believe a parent would send a kid with a serious drug problem to his freshman year in school, and a couple of weeks into the semester they would need to sneak up on the kid at school.</p>
<p>IMO, that type of behavior by the parent would perpetuate the drug abuse behavior by the kid.</p>
:)</p>