cannabisnews.com: Depart of Health on Unique Substance Abuse Program





Depart of Health on Unique Substance Abuse Program
Posted by FoM on January 26, 1999 at 16:42:19 PT

ROCKVILLE, Md.Point of Care Technologies Partners with Baltimore County Department of Health on Unique Substance Abuse Program. 
 Michael Pratt, President & CEO of Point of Care Technologies, Inc. ("Point of Care" or "Company"), (NASDAQ:PCIT) announced today that the Company has partnered with the Baltimore County Department of Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse on a unique substance abuse pilot program."PASS, an acronym for Prompt Adolescent Substance-abuse Screening, is a service provided to parents who are concerned that their child may be involved with drugs. The program provides a confidential, adolescent assessment conducted by a Department of Health Bureau of Substance Abuse counselor, who will use Point of Care's Genie Cup(tm) to perform a rapid drug screen on-site. After the assessment and drug screen are completed, the counselor will meet with the family to evaluate and interpret the results and assist in making proper referrals", explained Pratt.Michael M. Gimbel, Director of the Baltimore County Department of Health's Bureau of Substance Abuse, came up with the idea for the program six months ago, when Point of Care demonstrated the Genie Cup(tm) in his office. Gimbel, a drug counselor and administrator for 18 years, has seen his share of such tests. He liked the Genie Cup(tm) because it offered unique features and immediate results."Commercial drug tests are sent to a lab and, after a week to ten days, parents obtain results over the telephone. If they have to wait a week or more for results, anything can happen. The child may run away or family violence could result. Most importantly, if test results are positive, parents often don't know where to turn", Gimbel said."PASS is intended for parents who want to bring their children in voluntarily, whether they are in trouble or headed that way. PASS addresses the shortfalls of currently available drug testing methods by providing a trained therapist in the room who knows how to interpret and deal with positive test results, and how to handle a family in crisis," Gimbel continued. "Our drug counselors are available at the centers during office hours and three nights a week, and appointments will be made within 24 hours of a parent's phone call."PASS, is the first such government provided service in Maryland, and could become a model for similar efforts statewide, according to Thomas W. Davis, Director of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's alcohol and drug abuse administration. "We intend to follow the program's progress and, if successful, consider to what extent it might be replicated in other areas of the state," he said."We are pleased that Point of Care has been chosen to work with the Baltimore County Department of Health in this very important program", said Pratt. "Baltimore County is the most populous county in Maryland, and about half of all high school seniors have admitted to having used an illegal drug at least once. Our hope is that PASS becomes the model not just for the rest of Maryland, but for the rest of the country."The number to call for appointments for Baltimore County's PASS adolescent drug testing program is 410-887-7671.Point of Care Technologies, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, manufactures the Genie Cup(tm), which tests for the presence of amphetamines, cannabinoids (THC), cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine (PCP) and methamphetamines in urine, and is the only drug-screening device on the market that completely protects test administrators from exposure to urine. The Company is rapidly working to expand the number of drugs that can be detected by the Genie Cup from six to ten. These additional tests will be available pending FDA clearance.Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties including without limitation, continued acceptance of the company's products, increased competition, new products and technological changes, the company's dependence upon third party suppliers, intellectual property rights and other business risks. 
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