New Kit Lets Parents Test for Drugs

A new kit teaches parents to test their children for drug use by examining their eyes, but anti-drug activists warn such testing will leave parents and children on opposite sides of the war on drugs.

The Irvine-based nonprofit group, Athletes for a Strong America, markets the kit, called “The Winners Program.” It includes a videotape, audio tapes, written material and a medical flashlight.

Parents are advised to begin checking their children at age 7 and to continue the inspections every few days.

“I think it’s a pretty insulting way to treat a child,” said Karen Sawyer, an Irvine mother of two who is chairwoman of Orange County Parents for Drug-Free Youth.

But Dave Hannah, president of Athletes for a Strong America, said the videotaped test instructions show parents how to use the test without alienating their children.

It teaches parents to check for redness in the white of the eye; a too-large or too-small pupil; the pupil’s ability to constrict when exposed to light; the eye’s ability to track a moving object from side to side without jumping, and the eyes’ ability to converge on an object that is brought close to the face.

“If I know I’m going to get caught, and I know I’m going to pay a penalty, the need to not take drugs is even greater,” said Hannah, who uses the test on his sons, ages 18 and 21.

Newport Beach psychologist Douglas Tanner, who has worked with teen-age drug addicts, said such testing will “destroy some element of trust between child and parent.”

“What kind of parents does this child have? I have some moms and dads who get so paranoid that they would test their child two or three times a day. And that can destroy a child’s self-esteem,” he said.

About 3,500 kits have been sold at a cost of $49.95 in the past 6 months, Hannah said. The organization makes $5, which is reinvested in the program, and the salesperson makes $25, he said.

The organization’s national co-chairman is USC football Coach Larry Smith, and its board of governors includes such well-known coaches as the Rams’ John Robinson.

Spokesmen for both coaches confirmed their involvement in the organization, but declined comment.

The test was developed with the help of Dr. Forest Tennant, who is a drug adviser to the National Football League, the Dodgers and the California Highway Patrol.

“I frankly think every parent in the country, every schoolteacher, every coach, every social worker, every police officer, every minister should learn the fundamentals of the eye test,” Tennant said. “Regardless of whether they do the eye test, they should know that this is how drugs work on the body.”

“They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.”

--Garrison Keillor, humorist