HILO, Hawai'i — An Arizona-based program that distributes home drug testing kits so middle school parents can find out whether their kids have been using drugs made its first series of presentations in Hawai'i last week, including stops at four Big Island public schools.

Project 7th Grade offers parents a briefing on the latest trends in drug abuse and the benefits of home drug testing kits, and distributes a free kit to each parent at the briefing, said program coordinator Natalie Ehmka.

"We're firm believers in drug testing as a prevention tool to stop drug use before it even starts in the home," she said.

"We talk about ways to use it as a conversation starter, a communication tool, and we tell parents that, frankly, they don't even really have to use it," she said. "They can use it at their discretion, but just having it there in the home is going to be a deterrent because it's going to set a zero tolerance for drug use."

The program is a partnership between a nonprofit organization called notMYkid and First Check Diagnostics, LLC, a manufacturer of home drug testing kits. The company provides the kits, which retail for about $40 but are distributed to parents free. Coupons and rebate forms are also offered to any parents who may want to buy more kits, Ehmka said.

The organization also offered briefings for parents at Hilo Intermediate School, Laupahoehoe High and Elementary School, Kohala Middle School and Kalaniana'ole Elementary and Intermediate School.

Loretta Nussbaum, a parent and guidance education assistant at Laupahoehoe, said about seven parents attended the midday session there. That is a good turnout for a midday meeting at the small school, and Nussbaum said she is open to the idea of parental drug testing.

Nussbaum and the other parents took the drug testing kits offered at the meeting, and she said she plans to sit down with her kids and discuss it with them.

"I think it'd be appropriate to use," she said. She and Ehmka said the test kits may give kids a way out if they are being pressured by their peers to use drugs. Youngsters can tell their friends they can't participate because their parents have a drug test at home they could use at any time.

Hawai'i is the 39th state where Project 7th Grade has made presentations, and the organization's stops here included presentations at the Hawai'i State Parent Teacher Student Association's annual convention on Maui, and to the Hawai'i National Guard Counterdrug Support Program.

Valerie Sonoda, president of the Hawai'i State PTSA, said her group invited Project 7th Grade to speak at its convention because members were interested in drug prevention programs.

Maj. Chuck Anthony, public affairs officer for the National Guard, said counterdrug officials are considering making the program available to the families of about 5,500 Guard members, but have made no decision yet.

The program was greeted with skepticism by Katherine Irwin, associate professor of sociology at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa and a board member of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i.

"Drug testing just doesn't make it to the list of programs that are effective in reducing drug use," Irwin said. "People will say it's effective, but they are not citing scientifically rigorous studies, they just aren't."

She said there are other programs that have proved effective at reducing drug use and delinquency, and parents and schools should consider them instead.

"Is there another way to go about it based on trust, and based on a conversation and information shared between a parent and a child, rather than having your kid pee in a cup?" Irwin asked. "As a parent, how do you feel about having a relationship based on trying to police your child's behavior by testing their urine?"

The program does not have hard data showing it reduces drug use among teens, although Ehmka said research into that question is under way.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.