Psychemedics Announces a “Vaping Panel” to Detect and Deter the Use of Marijuana, CBD and Nicotine

A New and Cost-Effective Tool to Combat the E-cigarette Epidemic Among Youth

ACTON, Mass., May 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Psychemedics Corporation (NASDAQ:PMD), the world leader and pioneer in detecting drugs of abuse using hair analysis, today introduced a Vaping Panel to detect the use of Marijuana, CBD and Nicotine. This test provides a way for schools and businesses to detect the ingestion of these drugs by all methods including electronic cigarettes or smoking.  Hair testing provides several significant advantages over other methods of testing including a 90-day lookback period for the ingestion of drugs.

A threat that is expanding

According to a Journal of the American Medical Association article, e-Cigarette Use Among Youth in the United States, “In 2019, over 27% of high school students and over 10% of middle schools students were using e-cigarettes”. And the National Institute on Drug Abuse finds that vaping nicotine among high school age teens has more than doubled since 2017, the most dramatic increase for any drug in the 45-year history of the NIDA survey. Vaping is clearly a growing challenge for educators.

Underscoring the evolving nature of the threat, THC (the psychotic substance in marijuana) and CBD are increasingly popular vaping choices among teens.  The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in a brochure, Get Smart About Drugs, points to vaping THC oil being more dangerous than smoking the drug because the higher concentration of THC delivered increases the “likelihood of addiction and adverse medical consequences”.

According to the National Institutes of Health, teenage / young adult drug use is of particular concern, “early use of drugs increases a person’s chances of becoming addicted”, and “because the brain is still developing, using drugs at this age has more potential to disrupt brain function in areas critical to motivation, memory, learning, judgement and behavior control.”

Dan Alig, Upper School Principal at Lovett School in Atlanta, said, “Psychemedics’ new Vaping Panel will give parents the key tool they need—information—as they partner with schools to prevent addiction. The longer we can delay teenage use, the more effective we’ll be in reducing substance abuse among young adults.”

Certainty of detection is the best deterrent

In addition to Psychemedics’ recently announced FDA approved standalone nicotine test, the Vaping Panel is an accurate and economical way to equip educators and companies alike with the capability to quickly identify people using the most commonly vaped drugs.  Results in business organizations and on campuses show time after time that the certainty of detection assured with a Psychemedics test is a proven deterrent to drug use. Simply stated, it delivers a powerful incentive to abstain from use and a reason for students to say no when confronted with peer pressure.