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 of Dorsey High and Bill Scott of Alemany High in Mission Hills see the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing students to be tested involuntarily for drug use, in starkly opposing terms.

“Personally I wouldn’t mind [being tested] at all,” said Bill, who will be a junior in the fall and plays on the school’s baseball team. “I think it would be good because at least it would help put a stop to people using drugs.”

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

An informal sampling of students from Simi Valley to Los Angeles to Santa Ana on Monday found that most agreed with Bill. 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.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Ted Iacenda, who plays football for Hart High in Newhall.

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

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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.

In 1988, at the urging of coaches, parents, booster club members and team leaders, Granada Hills High School became the first in the San Fernando Valley to adopt a drug testing policy. That policy applied only to athletes, but the Supreme Court ruling will help schools adopt and expand such programs, said assistant principal Robert Weinberg.

“Some kids just need parameters and direction” he said.

Although the program was voluntary for about 250 athletes and cheerleaders, Weinberg said “just about everybody participated.” Only students and their parents were notified of results.

Even though the tests were analyzed free by Granada Hills Community Hospital, the tests were abandoned after about 18 months because they were too expensive and time-consuming for the school, Weinberg said. If the Supreme Court ruling leads to a national drug testing policy in the schools, he said, then Congress must provide federal funds to pay for it.

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.

At Westlake High in Westlake Village, which started a voluntary drug-testing program for football players two seasons ago, Athletic Director Jim Martin said all of the players submitted last season.

But with the new Supreme Court ruling, “we could just add [mandatory testing] on and we wouldn’t have to ask their permission anymore,” he said.

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 Diane Seo and Mike Terry contributed to this story.