There is currently a situation with teens and drugs. I think it starts around puberty when they are in middle school (age 11). Teens at this age are usually going through the development of themselves, peer pressure, issues at home, divorcing parents, etc. Teens usually want to fit "IN" with other students. This starts the cry for help when there is a change in their behavior. They are reaching out to other students who are being rebellious to cover up for there insecurities. First teens will usually start smoking cigarettes so they can escape the memories in their head temporarily. Then all of a sudden there sober and now require more of a high. I know this to be true because I started drinking at the age of 6, smoking cigarettes at 10, smoking marijuana at 14, started cocaine at 17, and I just had a newborn baby. At 19 I started Ecstasy, Heroin, and PCP. My life was screwed up at the early stages and I didn't know how to change it. If I would have known about drugs and the affects of it, I never would have started taking drugs. This is another reason why I support mandatory drug testing for kids in schools. For example: 1. Trust your instincts “ We all should know how our children behave and when they have an attitude. We should always trust out gut feeling when we sense something is wrong. For example, you must monitor their body language, monitor why they are angry, why there mood is changing and just listen. 2. Educate yourself “ Don't think you have to see a physical sign of something going wrong. You may not know what to look for. It's good to learn more about the different drugs that are available and the side effects it can have. There are plenty of sites that provide information on the most common substances. 3. Don't take it personally “ If you've confirmed that your child is using drugs, don't get mad. Get help. It will give you better results. 4. Get help “ Get help from a doctor, counselor, AA meetings, and treatment centers. 5. Leave room to rebuild trust “ Keep the tone in your voice sincere so they know you are deeply concerned. Let them talk and you just sit back and listen. You may need to take a time out to evaluate the conversation. Then go back and offer help. This will make them trust you. Be an ear for them and don't try to ridicule them because you are so angry. 6. Expand your parenting style “ You must show your child more love than ever before. You will need to enforce strict rules. Be a parent not there friend. I was looking at some information from the website below called the Institute of Education Services and they have a program called Mandatory-Random Student Drug Testing (MRSDT). The goal for this program is designed to reduce substance in the schools. They discuss the effective of mandatory-random student drug testing. This site explains that upon research they found that schools that have drug testing reported less substance abuse compared to regular high schools that don't offer drug testing. Kids that are attending the high schools with drug testings, the parents must sign a consent form approving this policy for their child. The testing that is being done is for drugs of all kinds, tobacco and in some cases alcohol. The goal in this experiment/program was to stop or reduce the number of teens. This number could possibly be