The technician runs a swab across a surface of a possible crime scene, places it in an evidence envelope, and labels it. At a small lab, an instrument signals that the virtually invisible trace on the swab is heroin. The crime scene is a row of lockers in the hallway of your child’s school, says the Shreveport (La.) Times. Traces of LSD, heroin, marijuana, morphine, methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, codeine, and numerous other substances have been found in the searches at schools by Trace Detection Services of Alexandria, La. “We’re not out to pinpoint any one person” or to put students in jail, said Trace Detection CEO Andy Anderson. “We’re all about kids not doing drugs.”
For $2 per student enrolled in a school, Trace Detection does two assessments, spread six months apart to assure that schools are following up on suggestions, leaves supplies behind for schools to do their own testing, and does free analysis of any future swabs sent to the company. Anderson said the federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools program wants schools to take a more serious approach to eliminating drugs because “ribbons just don’t do it anymore” when students reach their teens.
Link: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041206/NEWS01/412060319/1060