On Front Lines of Campus Drug War, Many Back Tests : Law: Informal survey of area students finds more favor Supreme Court ruling than fear loss of privacy. Random checks are seen as needed weapon.

Henri Taylor and Walter Guevara, classmates at Dorsey High School’s law and government magnet program, see the issue in starkly different terms.

To Henri, mandatory drug testing of high school students is a blatant violation of individual rights, “an invasion of privacy.”

But Walter says he has observed firsthand how drug users can spoil learning for others, and he would welcome the testing.

“I think it would cut down on fights,” said the freshman, “and we would have a better environment to study in.”

In an informal sampling of students from Los Angeles to Santa Ana on Monday, Walter seemed to voice the more popular view.

Perhaps reflecting the conservative mood of the country, more students said they agree with Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which held that conducting random urine analyses on athletes and other students in middle and high schools does not violate their constitutional rights.

Mandatory drug testing, the students said, might deter more youths from drug use and give them an easy way to resist peer pressure to try drugs.

Junior Jennifer Sari, a basketball player at Brea Olinda High School in Brea, agreed to undergo voluntary drug testing as a freshman. “I had no problems with being tested then, and I have no problem with this now. I don’t feel they are invading my privacy . . . .”

She supports the Supreme Court ruling, she said, because she believes it will discourage some students from using drugs.

Derrick Anderson, 16, who plays on Crenshaw High School’s varsity basketball team, agrees. A mandatory drug testing program might make it easier for everyone to succeed in school, he said.

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“A lot of kids smoke [marijuana], and when they smoke they are not focusing on school work and they cause a lot of trouble,” he said.

Walter, the freshman at Dorsey, nodded his head vigorously at that reason to support Monday’s ruling. His school does not have a major drug problem, he said, but the threat of mandatory tests might deter those who do use drugs and enhance the academic climate for the others.

Walter recalled being in a math class this year when a student he suspected of being high on drugs disrupted the class during an exam.

“He started picking a fight with the teacher. He got real loud. We couldn’t concentrate. Nobody could do the test because of him.”

About a dozen high schools in Southern California have sponsored voluntary drug testing programs over the last several years, although many have discontinued the effort largely because of the cost.

Granada Hills High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District adopted a drug testing program for athletes in 1988 at the urging of coaches, parents, booster club members and team leaders.

However, the tests were abandoned after about 18 months because they were too expensive and time-consuming, assistant principal Robert Weinberg said.

At Laguna Hills High School, about 140 students have been tested over the past four years. So far only one has tested positive, and that student was found to be using prescription drugs for his asthma.

At Royal High School in Simi Valley, a voluntary testing program for athletes has been conducted for seven years, with nearly 100% participation.

Royal fullback Mike Reddington said team members understand that if they are tested and fail, they will be ejected from the team. He could not recall anyone failing.

He said the random routine “kept the athletes on their toes, they never knew when they were going to be tested.”

Some students, however, said mandatory drug testing could open up a hornet’s nest of problems, and they were leery about its efficacy on campus drug use.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’s invading my privacy even if I did it [use drugs] or not,” said Shyonta Mack, a junior in Dorsey’s math and science magnet program. “It’s like accusing people of doing drugs without knowing if they do or not.”

Armando Flores, 18, who just graduated from Santa Ana High School, feared that school administrators might use the testing to target certain students.

“School administrators can pick on students who they don’t like,” said Flores, who said he played football and wrestled in high school. “A lot of kids just won’t turn out for sports because they’ll feel too uncomfortable.”

And Calvin Abbott, an assistant football coach at Crenshaw High, said he disapproves of student drug use but opposes mandatory testing, particularly if it singles out athletes.

“If the kids are tested positive, what are the consequences? Could that ruin a young man or a young woman’s career? That shouldn’t happen at this stage of their lives. These are young people, trying to chase a dream.”

Times staff writers Martha Willman and Mike Terry contributed to this story.