THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995               TAG: 9503300394
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                           LENGTH: Short :   45 lines

NEW, $20 KIT WILL LET PARENTS TEST THEIR KIDS' ROOMS FOR DRUGS

A leading drug detection firm has announced a potent new weapon in the fight against teenage drug use - a $20 kit that allows parents to check their children's rooms secretly for traces of drugs.

Executives at Barringer Technologies Inc. of New Providence, N.J., said the kit - with a ``swipe'' pad that can be mailed to parents in a thin envelope and sent back for quick analysis - offers a new way to stymie a recent surge in teenage drug use. Drug experts said they expect other companies to jump into a market fueled by parental fears of drug use when their children are moody or belligerent.

Psychologists and social workers who deal with family problems hailed the device as a way to get help early for youths before their problem becomes too great.

``It usually takes two or three years after a child (begins) using before their behavior becomes so deviant that parents are convinced of their drug use, and by that time they are well into addiction,'' said Harold Hunton, a staff therapist at the Family Therapy Institute of Alexandria, Va.

Barringer executives said the test destroys the sample, so that it could not be used as evidence in court.

But civil libertarians and some teenagers and family counselors said the device is liable to poison relations between children and their parents, particularly if no drug traces are discovered. Some experts pointed out that home detection devices using urine tests and chemical sprays had not done much to curb teenage drug use, and that the newer, more sophisticated devices also might fail to do so.

The firm's DrugAlert kit contains a 3-inch premoistened pad, called a swipe, that - when wiped across desk tops, phones, books, clothing or other items - collects any drug traces. The kit is now available, by mail order from Barringer. Advertisements will include an 800 number for customers to call.

KEYWORDS: DRUG TEST KIT DRUGS ILLEGAL by CNB