next step?

[cat64]

My son is almost 17. His life revolves around bmx and photography of bmx, and he meets many new friends from near and far through this sport. I have never found drugs or paraphenalia around the house, nor has he ever seemed to be under the influence, and I do occasionally access his MySpace pages and I have never seen anything about him using drugs, but I do know that there are some new drugs that weren't really around when I was his age, that I might not be much aware of.

Last night, two of his friends spent the night, and after they left I found a baggie with white powder in it, on the counter. It's not cocaine, but I can't figure out what it might be. I'm afraid it might be powdered ecstasy, but I dont know. How do I find out? Should I take it to the police station for them to look at it? I am nervous about that, because I don't want the police getting involved at such an early point. I want to find out what it is, first, before confronting my son. Is this right?

[Mike Bradley]

Dear Parent,
Ask him straight up and then use your mystical parental intuition to decide if this is a problem or not. If you get that bad feeling, then offer him another chance to come clean by telling him that you will be having the stuff tested. Call your local authorities to see if they offer anonymous substance testing (many areas do).
However, be open to the possibility that this was a harmless event as well, perhaps related to the photography. My son was once caught by the local police murdering someone with an axe. They saw the blood flying and the axe swinging on a foggy, dark playground, drew their guns and shouted "Police" only to find they had stumbled onto some temporarily brain-challenged 13-year-olds making a horror movie.
I hope your story turns out harmless as well. Let us know.

[cat64]

Well, local police were not helpful at all......"go to a lab yourself" they said.
I did have the powder tested, with a home kit on the advice of a drug counselor I spoke with, and the results were all negative.
I did question my son beforehand, and he denied knowing anything about it.
He e-mailed the kids that spent the night, and they denied it too. Even after I told my son that the results were negative, he still denied knowing anything about it. It is just really weird. The only thing I can think of is that his friends were being stupid and using it as a joke, something I did myself as a teen, sad to say, with dried parsley! Very annoying, but a relief.