Free drug testing kits available to parents

Free drug testing kits are available to suburban parents through a foundation created in memory of Nick Beinlich, a Stevenson High School alumnus who died of a heroin overdose in 2007.

His mother, Chrystal O’Halloran, of Lincolnshire, mails out the kits at no charge as part of her mission to educate parents about the drug problem plaguing the suburbs.

To get a kit, go to the Nicholas’ Gift of Hope website, nickbeinlich.com, fill out a form, and she’ll send a kit the next day.

“Maybe they’ll feel more comfortable getting it this way than having to walk into Walgreens. No one sees the info but me. It’s mailed and done,” said O’Halloran, who gets the drug testing kits from a medical facility in California.

In light of the recent drug investigation at Stevenson, O’Halloran said this is a good time for parents to educate themselves about what’s going on, talk to their children about drugs, and consider giving their kids a drug test.

“Hopefully this will bring an awareness to the community,” said O’Halloran, who once paid for a billboard on Milwaukee Avenue to help spread the word. “We need people to recognize the problem and deal with it.”