Every week, it’s the same, sad thing.

A look through the Greenfield Police Department’s daybook – a log of every call the department responds to during a one-week stretch – produces four, five, maybe even six or more calls categorized as “Drug Offense.”

Just this week, Greenfield NOW’s police report round-up had five different drug-related write-ups. Five different people, all in their late 20s to early 30s, arrested for possession of marijuana or drug paraphernalia, or both. This week also included the 18-year-old “man” and 17-year-old girl who allegedly had marijuana with them during a traffic stop.

Sometimes the story ends with a simple arrest, sometimes it’s much worse.

It’s that younger group of users, the teens and impressionable young 20-somethings that has Chief Brad Wentlandt and his department concerned enough to try something new.

Greenfield police have partnered with TestMyTeen.com to offer free home drug test kits to parents in the community, giving parents who think their children may be experimenting with drugs, alcohol or tobacco the ability to find out and solve potential substance abuse problems before they get out of control.

According to Wentlandt, drug arrests in the city have increased more than 50 percent, and the department has also seen a dramatic increase in young people in their late teens and early 20s addicted to heroin.

“These young people started out in high school abusing prescription opiates often found in the home,” Wentlandt said. “As they age, their addiction forces them to heroin because of its low cost and availability. Law enforcement has often been the first to know when young people in the community use drugs, while their parents were often the last to know. Now there is a way to reverse that trend.”

Wentlandt said the partnership with TestMyTeen.com is the perfect workaround for kids who often feel pressured by their peers to try drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

“These home-testing kits provide young people with a socially acceptable excuse (to not drink, smoke or use drugs): ‘My parents test me,’” Wentlandt said.

The home-kit approach is intended to help parents protect model students or troubled teens without sacrificing privacy. Parents can obtain a drug test kit free of charge and anonymously. The police department does not receive notification and does not know the identity of those requesting tests.

Parents can sign up for a kit on the department's website.