Milan authorities are handing out free urine testing kits to parents of teenagers so they can find out if their children are using illegal drugs. In a part of the northern Italian city controlled by the right-wing National Alliance party, almost 4,000 families will receive a coupon which they can exchange for a kit to test for some of the most widely used drugs including cannabis and cocaine.
“It’s a decision I took as a councilor and as a mother,” said the head of health in the Milan Zone 6 area, Carla De Albertis. “Because I believe the family … must be the educative means that can stem the drug abuse phenomenon.”
The kits, available free to all parents of children aged between 13 and 16, are similar to pregnancy tests in that they need to be dipped in urine for a few seconds and then give a positive or negative reading for a variety of drugs.
It remains to be seen how teenagers will react when asked by their parents to “just say yes” to a drugs test. “If my mother asked me to take a test like that, I’d hate her for the rest of my life,” 16-year-old Marta told La Stampa daily.
“She would instantly become my worst enemy instead of my closest confidante and the person I run to with my problems.”
