School corridor MOSCOW, Jan 10 Natalya Vlasova, Associate Professor of the Department of Legal Psychology and Law of the Faculty of Legal Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, agrees with the Deputy Head of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Vitaly Milonov that schools need a system for early diagnosis of drug use by children, since such risks do exist. News that at the beginning of the spring session in the State Duma will discuss the introduction of compulsory testing of students for drugs and mental disorders in schools. According to him, «today there is no one to deal with mental, psychological testing of schoolchildren, and this is very important.» Today, parents of schoolchildren have the right to refuse to conduct a drug test for their child, Milonov emphasized. Prevention should be carried out in advance. Such children need more attention from psychological services, teachers and parents, «Vlasova told RIA Novosti. According to her, the Ministry of Education has developed a whole program, special testing, and a pilot project has already been launched. But legally, schools do not have the right to conduct psychological or medical intervention without parental permission, which is sometimes necessary for early detection, Vlasova noted. Today, there is no tool in psychological practice that could say with a 100% guarantee that a child is using drugs. because the factors of addiction are very close, the expert noted, citing the use of tobacco, alcohol or food addiction problems as examples. With children who have risk groups, as she said, they are working to remove factors such as unstable self-esteem or intolerance to stressful situations: they use various corrective methods of work in personal consultations, with the assistance of a psychotherapist, neurologist and narcologist. The State Duma will discuss the introduction of compulsory drug tests in schools
