A home school high school sophomore from Chattanooga, Blake Kosicek, was awarded a full ride scholarship to New York last month to learn first hand about prescription and street drugs abuse, the ramifications for the users, their families, and their communities, and how drug testing is performed from one of the top drug testing facilities in the United States.
Top Shelf Drug, Alcohol & DNA Testing, located at 6739 Ringgold Road, sponsored Kosicek to gain a teen’s perspective, as Top Shelf Drug screens numerous teens, adults, DOT (Department of Transportation), and non-DOT employees.
Kosicek learned how prescription medications, such as Ritalin and other ADHD medications, are being sold to teens and even their parents. Prescription drug abuse, as well as street drug use, is widespread at every socioeconomic level, which surprised Kosicek.
“I knew drugs were common in schools because my friends talk about them all the time. They name off who sells the drugs and who buys them and uses them. I didn’t realize they meant prescription drugs though,” said Kosicek.
Kosicek learned that the state of Tennessee accounts for 75 percent of the methamphetamine lab seizures in the Southeast. Hamilton, Davidson, and Shelby counties are considered the distribution hubs for drugs in the state.
As Tennessee is bordered by eight other states, the drug situations in the neighboring states impact the drug situation here. The highways and interstates that crisscross Tennessee carry a large volume of traffic, and are the primary means of moving drugs to and through the state.
Skunk, Baby, Ditch, 420, and more are names for marijuana, Kosicek learned. Although Tennessee is predominately a “user” and a transshipment state, it is the largest producing state for domestically grown marijuana.
As a Hamilton County resident, Kosicek was shocked to learn these and other statistics.
Kosicek also learned about Sizzurp, an addictive concoction that gets the user high. Sizzurp is made by combining prescription-strength cough syrup with soda such as Mountain Dew or Sprite, to which hard candies like Jolly Ranchers are added for more flavor.
Drug testing is not only for teens but also for pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, follow up, DOT testing, and more, Kosicek learned. With the volume of teen drug abuse, Kosicek gleaned insights as to why parents often do not test their teens at their physician’s office but rather choose a location such as Top Shelf Drug. “If you go to your physician, the notes in the chart are discoverable should the insurance company request documents from the physician. Often, many parents don’t want the physician to know there is a drug, or potential drug, problem,” Kosicek said.
When Top Shelf Drug asked Kosicek what stood out in his mind the most about what he learned, he said he was shocked about how people try to hide their drug problem, and how they’ll go above and beyond to pass the drug test.
To learn more about Top Shelf Drug, visit www.TopShelfDrugTesting.com.