Fellow Pupils Turn In 4 at Dodson Junior High : 6 Students Caught in School Drug Busts

The “Just Say No!” anti-drug message seems to be getting through to students, officials at Dodson Junior High School said Thursday in disclosing two drug busts at the campus.

Principal Nancy Carlson said the busts themselves didn’t amount to much--six students altogether, buying or selling tiny amounts of marijuana--and the Los Angeles Unified School District campus in the upscale Eastview section of Rancho Palos Verdes rarely catches youngsters dealing drugs.

But a hopeful sign that the anti-drug message is getting through, she said, is that in one of the instances, four youngsters now transferred or facing expulsion were turned in by their fellow students.

“I think it’s very encouraging,” Carlson said. “The kids know better than anyone what is going on and they want to do their part to help stop it. Reporting drug abuse is beginning to catch on.”

Remain Anonymous

But kids who turn in fellow students, she said, still want to remain anonymous. “It’s a sad commentary on the times that the kids can’t openly oppose drugs,” Carlson said. “They’re still not strong enough to withstand the peer pressure.”

Several students told Assistant Principal Bill Elkins that they see at least the beginning of a campus movement against drugs. To protect students’ identities, administrators would not let a reporter interview them about drugs, but Elkins said he gathered these comments from two students:

“We do oppose drugs,” said one of them. “We are ready to tell, especially if it’s the only way to help a friend in trouble with the stuff.”

“Kids who use drugs are messing up their whole systems,” said another youngster. “If we tell on them, it’s because we want to help them avoid fulfilling a death wish.”

Carlson said the incidents began last week when an administrator walked into a restroom and caught two students in the midst of a drug buy. Later in the day, she said, two youngsters told school counselor Jack Lombino that four of their classmates were showing off some marijuana.

Picked Up 4 Students

“They were a little fearful that they would get some heat for telling,” Lombino said. “But I assured them that we handle these reports with total confidentiality. They gave me four names and we went out and picked up the students.”

Lombino, a teacher and counselor at Dodson for 24 years, said he sees another hopeful sign. “Six or eight years ago, when I called the parents about a son or daughter who was getting involved with drugs, they would sometimes tell me not to worry about it,” he said.

“They would say they smoke pot at home with their kids. But I don’t hear that kind of thing anymore.”

Carlson said four of the students apprehended last week have been transferred to other schools and two face expulsion.

“We don’t have a real problem with drugs here, compared to some other schools,” she said. “But we hope that the courage some of our kids displayed last week can be a good example for others. It’s a beginning.”