Santa Clarita residents were able to safely discard any and all drugs through Action Family Counseling’s annual drug take-back event on Saturday at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.

“We’re taking everything from prescription drugs to anything else,” said founder and CEO of Action Family Counseling Cary Quashen. “Any kind of expired prescription or illegal drugs people give us will be getting incinerated.”

By the time the event had been open to the public for nearly an hour, the amount of drugs had already surprised Action Family Counseling volunteers. “This is more than we have ever gotten by this time,” said Quashen. “We’ll be getting a lot more by the end of the day.”

Now holding the event twice a year, Action Family Counseling hopes to prevent drug addiction and drug-related deaths in Santa Clarita through events like these. After National Take Back Day in April, the nation was able to collect nearly 900,000 pounds of drugs, according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

The strongest fear of drugs Action Family Counseling has is of pain medications, said volunteers. “But we want to help get rid of all drugs that kids would be able to access in medicine cabinets,” Quashen said. “By doing this a few times every year, we’re probably saving lives, and we wouldn’t even know it.”

For more information on future SCV Drug Take-Back events or on Action Family Counseling, click here.