SACRAMENTO - California should require a special credential for school coaches, and it should test high school athletes for drug and steroid use, former 49ers' coach Bill Walsh told lawmakers Thursday.

In addition, the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association should wage a publicity campaign to discourage young athletes from taking steroids, Walsh said.

The remarks came during a five-hour legislative hearing held by state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, exploring the growing teenage use of dietary supplements and steroids, the dangers and remedies.

Speier on Wednesday had released survey results showing that more than half of 516 high school students questioned knew of someone who uses steroids or nutritional supplements. Eleven percent said they had taken performance-enhancing substances.

"It's time to end our collective denial," Speier said. "Steroids and performance-enhancing supplements are a fact of life for today's high school athlete, and it's time we start to pay attention."

The senator stopped short of calling for the testing of young athletes. The cost -- tests can run hundreds of dollars each -- and legal hurdles stand in the way.

Mandatory testing would trouble civil rights advocates who worry about protecting students' privacy and constitutional rights. The U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures, said Francisco Lobaco, the state legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Our view is that you should have reasonable suspicion of drug use before you test," Lobaco said. "There are fundamental privacy issues as well."

Two sports players from Central Contra Costa schools said that testing would be OK for football players.

Jerry Backman, a junior track athlete at Ygnacio Valley high, said he does not believe steroids are a serious enough issue in high school sports to warrant widespread testing.

But he said that football players might be under more pressure to take steroids than athletes in other sports.

"Football is a lot different. People watch you, it's more of a pride thing," Backman said. "I think football is the only sport where steroid use is prevalent. I think it would be good to have testing in varsity football."

At De La Salle High School, Spartans quarterback Anthony Gutierrez said he is aware of steroid use among football players at other local schools and would not care if mandatory testing becomes a reality.

The Spartans' national-record 151-game winning streak has been attributed to the team's dedication in the weight room during the off-season.

"With our team, I say go ahead and test. I trust my team enough that we don't need that," said Gutierrez, who will be a senior next season.

At the news conference, Walsh joined with sports agent Leigh Steinberg and 49er Kwame Harris to denounce steroid use and call for educating the public on the risks. Walsh said 10 years of steroid use would take between six and 12 years off the user's life expectancy.

Harris said stringent testing by the NCAA and NFL prevent widespread steroid use at the college and pro levels. It's a different story in high school, where players obsess about getting to the college level, he said. Harris recalled being told by a coach once that if he wasn't injecting steroids he wasn't trying.

"It astounds me that there is no testing for high school athletes," Harris said. "That is mind blowing."

The California Interscholastic Federation, which regulates high school sports, has a $1.9 million annual budget and a staff of eight to oversee 700,000 teenage athletes.

Roger Blake, the federation's assistant executive director, said his toughest challenge is to educate parents about the dangers of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs and the reality that very few high school athletes go on to play sports in college.

"We've got to break the ignorance," Blake said. "We've got to educate the adults."

Don Hooton, whose 17-year-old son committed suicide after stopping steroid use, said testing should be pursued. Hooton, a Plano, Texas, resident, said depression caused by the steroids prompted the suicide.

"I think our kids are worth it, and I hope you do, too," Hooton told Speier.