8:35 AM
NECN comes to Healthy Malden
Healthy Malden
"Let Me Prove It" empowers teens to resist drugs
(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Arlington, Mass.) - Studies show nearly half of all teens try an illicit drug before they graduate high school. And as the school year ends, temptations rise.
Just last month, a local pilot program called "Let Me Prove It" began, aiming to reduce those numbers by giving teens the opportunity to prove they're drug free... and influence their friends to do the same.
16-year-old Patrick O'Neill is an Arlington High School junior who plays football, lacrosse and runs indoor track. With a bright future ahead of him, O'Neill says he has steered clear of the peer pressure to experiment with drugs.
"As a student athlete I know that drugs can really affect how well you do in school and athletics."
But O'Neill is hoping to use his own peer pressure - positive peer pressure that is - to try to influence his classmates to prove their drug-free.
"Hopefully we can chip away at the people who do do it and try and prevent people from doing it."
It's all part of a campaign called "Let Me Prove It" created by Waltham-based drug test manufacturer First Check.
"It's a really unique approach to a drug prevention program, because it puts the power in the hands of the teens."
Right now it's a pilot program being tested out in both Arlington and Malden.
A handful of prominent high school juniors in each community have volunteered to take an at-home drug test.
As ambassadors to the program, they recruit their friends and classmates to take a test... and like a spider web, the program aims to weave its drug-free message through the schools.
"They go out to their friends who are clean and get them started on this program and then it starts to reach the kids who are mostly clean and then maybe hopefully we can reach the kids who say, you know what, I hear what they're saying, it's making sense to me, so I'm just going to go clean."
As executive director of the group Healthy Malden, Kevin Duffy knows this won't prevent all teens from doing drugs. But he believes it will be more effective than previous programs where parents concerned about drug use pushed the drug tests on their kids.
"When you have an adult or an authority figure talking to them, they almost always see that finger wagging and they hear that tone of voice. When it's kids talking to kids, they take it as advice, they take it as counsel and they actually use this in their decision-making."
"So this is the First Check home drug test and here's how it's works, you put your specimen in the cup - and in this case, we'll use water - you close the lid, you put it on a flat surface and in about five minutes you get your results."
"It works similar to a pregnancy test in the fact that it's a line interpretation test - you will get a control line which shows that the test is working, then if you get a line for a drug that means there is no drug detected, meaning a negative test."
First Check provides the $40 tests for free to the ambassadors and their recruits. They say the tests are 99% accurate, providing results for twelve different drugs.
"Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug but we also test for cocaine, methamphetamines, opiates, and then under the prescription drugs we test for things like oxycodone, benzodiazapine and other pain killers."
O'Neill says he's confident this will help reduce drug use in his school.
"I think it'll work fairly well. There are some very committed kids who are willing to go the extra mile to hand out the tests and get everyone committed to the same program."
And it pays to participate - the ambassadors earn rewards for how many students they recruit - ranging from $20 iTunes gift cards to a $2,000 college scholarship.
Original story and video available here:
http://necn.com/Boston/Health/2009/06/10/Let-Me-Prove-It-empowers/1244638598.html
(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Arlington, Mass.) - Studies show nearly half of all teens try an illicit drug before they graduate high school. And as the school year ends, temptations rise.
Just last month, a local pilot program called "Let Me Prove It" began, aiming to reduce those numbers by giving teens the opportunity to prove they're drug free... and influence their friends to do the same.
16-year-old Patrick O'Neill is an Arlington High School junior who plays football, lacrosse and runs indoor track. With a bright future ahead of him, O'Neill says he has steered clear of the peer pressure to experiment with drugs.
"As a student athlete I know that drugs can really affect how well you do in school and athletics."
But O'Neill is hoping to use his own peer pressure - positive peer pressure that is - to try to influence his classmates to prove their drug-free.
"Hopefully we can chip away at the people who do do it and try and prevent people from doing it."
It's all part of a campaign called "Let Me Prove It" created by Waltham-based drug test manufacturer First Check.
"It's a really unique approach to a drug prevention program, because it puts the power in the hands of the teens."
Right now it's a pilot program being tested out in both Arlington and Malden.
A handful of prominent high school juniors in each community have volunteered to take an at-home drug test.
As ambassadors to the program, they recruit their friends and classmates to take a test... and like a spider web, the program aims to weave its drug-free message through the schools.
"They go out to their friends who are clean and get them started on this program and then it starts to reach the kids who are mostly clean and then maybe hopefully we can reach the kids who say, you know what, I hear what they're saying, it's making sense to me, so I'm just going to go clean."
As executive director of the group Healthy Malden, Kevin Duffy knows this won't prevent all teens from doing drugs. But he believes it will be more effective than previous programs where parents concerned about drug use pushed the drug tests on their kids.
"When you have an adult or an authority figure talking to them, they almost always see that finger wagging and they hear that tone of voice. When it's kids talking to kids, they take it as advice, they take it as counsel and they actually use this in their decision-making."
"So this is the First Check home drug test and here's how it's works, you put your specimen in the cup - and in this case, we'll use water - you close the lid, you put it on a flat surface and in about five minutes you get your results."
"It works similar to a pregnancy test in the fact that it's a line interpretation test - you will get a control line which shows that the test is working, then if you get a line for a drug that means there is no drug detected, meaning a negative test."
First Check provides the $40 tests for free to the ambassadors and their recruits. They say the tests are 99% accurate, providing results for twelve different drugs.
"Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug but we also test for cocaine, methamphetamines, opiates, and then under the prescription drugs we test for things like oxycodone, benzodiazapine and other pain killers."
O'Neill says he's confident this will help reduce drug use in his school.
"I think it'll work fairly well. There are some very committed kids who are willing to go the extra mile to hand out the tests and get everyone committed to the same program."
And it pays to participate - the ambassadors earn rewards for how many students they recruit - ranging from $20 iTunes gift cards to a $2,000 college scholarship.
Original story and video available here:
http://necn.com/Boston/Health/2009/06/10/Let-Me-Prove-It-empowers/1244638598.html