After a school bus driver was caught with bonsai in Istanbul, the spotlight is back on school buses. Families are worried about the situation. Experts warn. "Ask the institution to which the school bus you deliver your child to for the results of the screening test that the driver has not used drugs and alcohol," they say.
After a private school bus driver was found with the synthetic drug bonzai during a check in Ataşehir, Istanbul, school buses and their drivers became the subject of debate again.
The families of millions of children who go to school by school bus have started to worry again with this latest incident. Experts state that it is possible to prevent this and similar incidents. Stating that this is only possible by routinely conducting alcohol and drug screening tests for drivers in our country as in European countries, Üsküdar University Advanced Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacogenetics Laboratory Manager Pharm. Selma Özilhan warned families and employers. Özilhan made the following evaluations.
"Millions of people are transferred daily, both in school buses and intercity trips. In a sense, we entrust our lives to the people who use the vehicle. Therefore, the health of the person driving the vehicle is very important. These people need to be supervised. The recent incident in Ataşehir is very sad. Access to bonsai is very easy and cheap today. We need to take precautions. Both the institutions that employ these drivers and the families have duties. Employers should definitely routinely conduct drug screening tests for the drivers they employ. Families should also follow the results of these tests, they should ask their child's bus driver to document whether he/she has taken these tests or not. Screening tests are a deterrent."
Stating that screening tests should be routinized in our country as in European countries, Özilhan reminded that they can detect a person's substance use with a urine sample.
Stating that Üsküdar University and NPISTANBUL Hospital conducted these tests in a very short time, Özilhan made the following evaluations.
Turkey's first laboratory with ISO 17025 accreditation certificate in the field of toxicology:
Üsküdar University Clinical Pharmacogenetics-Advanced Toxicology Analysis Laboratory has the distinction of having Turkey's first ISO 17025 accreditation certificate in toxicology. Accreditation proves that the results and reports obtained by a laboratory at the end of its studies are accurate and that there is no margin of error. Especially in cocaine, substance analysis can be performed from a urine sample in 20 minutes. 31 substances in a sample can be separated.
As a laboratory, we also take samples directly from individuals in line with the sample acceptance criteria. Applications can be made on an individual basis (for mother, father, child), or if a workplace is concerned about its personnel, it can make an application in this direction collectively. We only have sample acceptance criteria as an institution.
We can also receive samples from hospitals and AMATEMs. Samples come to us from hospitals or AMATEMs. These samples come under cold chain. We have 6 panels as toxicology. The first is alcohol, the second is amphetamine and its derivatives, the third is cocaine, the fourth is cocaine, the fourth is cannabis, the fifth is opiates, namely heroin morphine and codeine, and the sixth is synthetic cannabinoids, a compound popularly called bonzai. We look at these. Now, in the laboratory that comes to us, the doctor says that my patient is only using alcohol, just look at alcohol. Then we only look at alcohol and give it to him. So we don't look at the others. But when the doctor says, or when the sample comes to us in the request, he says look at all of them. We look at all of these. Therefore, we analyze according to what is requested. We analyze the sample that comes to us and present the analysis in a report to the organization that requests us."