Drug Dealing Arrests Soar at Schools : Crime: Undercover officers posing as students have apprehended 201 this semester--the most since 1988. Police cite a resurgence in teen-age drug use.

Reflecting a resurgence of drug use among teen-agers, undercover police officers posing as students at 10 Los Angeles high schools have arrested the largest number of suspected drug dealers in any semester since 1988.

The undercover “School Buy Program” resulted in the arrests of 201 people--157 of them students--accused of selling marijuana, crack and powder cocaine, LSD and peyote, according to Los Angeles Police Department officials.

The number of arrests was 47% higher than last fall, when 137 people were arrested in connection with campus drug sales.

“It’s skyrocketed,” said Lt. Bud Harper, who oversees the LAPD’s Juvenile Narcotics section. “It’s a phenomenon going on that a lot of people aren’t aware of. It’s just gone up so much in such a short amount of time.”

Police said the increase in arrests this semester mirrors a dramatic jump in the number of teen-agers caught with drugs citywide. From January to June, Los Angeles police arrested 1,579 juveniles--a 37% increase over the 1,150 arrests last year--for possession or sale of drugs.

In the department’s annual School Buy campaign, young-looking officers posed as students since the first day of the fall semester on 10 campuses: Venice, where 27 students were arrested; Locke, where 20 were arrested; Cleveland, where 19 were arrested; Verdugo Hills, where 19 were arrested; Van Nuys, where 15 were arrested; Canoga Park, where 13 were arrested; Narbonne, where nine were arrested; University, where six were arrested; North Hollywood, where four were arrested, and Pacific Palisades, where four were arrested. Other arrests were made off campus.

Most of the arrested students will face drug sale charges and will probably be transferred to one of the district’s alternative high schools.

In one case, a student was arrested on the Verdugo Hills campus after selling a handgun to an officer for $60. “We don’t solicit guns, but the student brought it from home,” Harper said. “The officer seized the opportunity to get the gun off campus.”

Overall, the undercover officers recovered nine guns and nearly $10,000 in cash. The officers also seized about $109,392 worth of drugs, including more than 30 pounds of marijuana.

The figures reflect a continuing trend in the Los Angeles district, according to Wes Mitchell, chief of the Los Angeles Unified School District police. School police made 46% more arrests for drugs from July to September this year than they did during the same period last year, Mitchell said.

“The old strategies that we used to reduce it or diminish it are not working with this group of kids,” Mitchell said. “I think we’re seeing a turn in the times. . . . It’s back to drugs.”

That same phenomenon is occurring on a national level. For the third straight year, marijuana use has risen among eighth-graders nationwide, and nearly half of all high school seniors say they have tried illicit drugs, according to a survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Los Angeles police said students are also selling larger quantities of drugs--pounds rather than ounces of marijuana, for example--than in the past, and that younger students are being recruited to handle the drug transactions.

The drug dealers range from suspected gang members to students just dabbling in drugs to make some extra money, police said.

Of the 157 students arrested, about 25 will participate in the Police Department’s drug diversion counseling program for first-time offenders in lieu of facing charges.

School administrators confirm an increase in drugs on and around their campuses.