The Region - News from May 23, 1985

Undercover police officers at nine Los Angeles city high schools made 342 drug purchases from about 200 dealers--many of them students--during the spring semester, authorities said. The effort included operations at Belmont, Eagle Rock and Jefferson high schools in the central city and northeast areas; University and Westchester high schools in West Los Angeles, and Chatsworth, Polytechnic, Granada Hills and Birmingham high schools in the San Fernando Valley. Arrests--including those of 165 students and 36 others--began May 6 and are still under way, police said. Capt. John White said that marijuana is still the most popular drug among the students and that cocaine use is increasing. Officers also found PCP, LSD, hashish, heroin, Quaaludes and amphetamines.