It’s a weapon for parents in the fight against rising heroin use in Northeast Ohio--tests that can be kept out of the public eye and in your hands to help a child in need.
“We will flip your hair over,” said Angela Yaniga, demonstrating one of the tests that examines hair samples for past drug use. She is the Chief Operations Officer of Any Lab Test Now in Medina. It’s a business that does 8,000 different types of tests, including ones for drugs.
Yaniga told us she has seen many more positive drug results in her lab in the past three years. “Unfortunately, I’ve seen it here in my facility, children as young as two being exposed to drugs,” said Yaniga.
Among other areas, the business does 5- and 10-panel urine screenings for things like cocaine, marijuana, opiates, heroin, meth, ecstasy, and so much more.
Parents come in with concerns about their children.
“It’s better to test and know they were wrong and it comes out negative or if their child needs help and it does come out positive,” explained Yaniga.
There are times the kids are not happy to be at the lab, but the staff tries to relieve their minds.
“We basically guide them into the process, and we help them understand that mom and dad are just genuinely concerned for them,” Yaniga told us.
Rapid drug screens usually done with urine cost $49. Hair tests cost $189, but the hair can give you a 90-day past history of drug use or longer. Urine will provide about 30 days past use for marijuana, but a much shorter time than that for things like prescription drugs.
Another thing to keep in mind: privacy is protected as the result stays with the family. “It doesn’t go on a child’s health record. We don’t report it to the city police department or anything like that,” said Yaniga.
The lab suggests that if you want to bring your child in for testing, don’t tell them they are going to the lab. Just pick them up and say, ‘Hey, we have to swing by a place.’ That way there’s less resistance as parents hope to get help to their troubled child.
