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ACTION - SCV Drug Takeback - Oct 2016

Action Family Counseling Gearing Up For SCV Drug Take-Back Day This Weekend

Action Family Counseling is set to host its fourth annual SCV Drug Take-Back Day this Saturday, Oct. 22 in front of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in conjunction with KHTS AM-1220, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station and Henry Mayo.


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“We don’t even look at the drugs — we don’t care what you give us. You can give us expired aspirin or heroin or cocaine, and it does not matter,” said Cary Quashen, founder and CEO of Action Family Counseling. “Whatever you give us goes in a box (and) it gets incinerated.”

The purpose of the annual event is to rid homes of potentially dangerous drugs that may fall into the hands of teenagers, putting their lives at risk.

“I deal with people, obviously, with substance abuse problems, and I work with children,” said Quashen. “When I ask the kids, ‘Where did you get the pills?’ — usually because it is some kind of overdose or E.R. visit — they always say the same thing, either, ‘My medicine cabinet,’ or, ‘My friend’s medicine cabinet.’”

Related: Hart District, Action Family Counseling’s ACTION Academy Expands Enrollment For Fall Semester

Quashen compared clearing unnecessary drugs out of one’s home to baby-proofing a home when a child starts crawling in order to keep them out of harm’s way.

“When you have children and they’re babies, you don’t worry much. You worry about them crying and you want to feed them and change their diapers,” said Quashen. “As they grow up, I say drug-proof your house, teenage-proof your house, because you never know what they can find around your house.”

Just about anything can be used in a harmful way, noted Quashen, referring to teenagers who use household cleaning materials and “huff” them, which has led to death in many cases.

“We really need to take a look at what is going on in our house and keep things that are dangerous out of our children’s way,” said Quashen.

A recent event held in Santa Clarita highlighted the types of drugs typically found in people’s medicine cabinets that teenagers are often attracted to and use in ways unintended by the drug manufacturers.  

“We have ‘pill parties’ here in Santa Clarita,” Quashen explained. “Here is what shows up at those pill partie: Xanax — very big — Ativan, Valium, Oxycontin, Vicodin. If it says anxiety, pain, sleep — those are the pills these kids are taking.”

The process of dropping off drugs at the SCV Drug Take-Back Event is fast and easy, according to Quashen.

“You do not even have to get out of your car,” he said. “One of us will come up to the car. We do not look at your liscense plate, we do not care who you are, we do not care what you got — we just want them off the streets safely.”

Action Family Counseling is a Santa Clarita drug and alcohol rehab center. Action Family Counseling has drug and alcohol residential treatment locations in Santa Clarita, Piru and Bakersfield, as well as intensive drug and alcohol outpatient programs in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Ventura, Pasadena and Bakersfield. Action Family Counseling supports and reinforces changes in behavior patterns so that adolescents and adults, or clients and their families, can fully indoctrinate the philosophies and principles needed to remain abstinent and stabilized for life.

Action Family Counseling

22722 Soledad Canyon Road

Santa Clarita, CA 91350

Office: 661-297-8691

24-Hour Helpline: 800-367-8336

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KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Action Family Counseling Gearing Up For SCV Drug Take-Back Day This Weekend

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About Lori Bashian

Lori Bashian joined KHTS AM 1220 as a staff writer in 2017 following a news internship. She started working in news during her time at College of the Canyons writing for Cougar News. She is currently studying at California State University, Northridge working towards a bachelor’s degree in Journalism with an emphasis in print.