Action Family Counseling Founder and CEO Cary Quashen is set to appear in a special NBC News segment on the heroin and opiate epidemic scheduled to air Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 11 p.m. on Channel 4.

The segment, partially filmed at KHTS AM-1220, is an effort by NBC to “get the word out” about the dangers of opiates and the prevalence of lives lost to overdoses as the growing epidemic continues, according to Quashen.

NBC News cameraman filming live broadcast of “Families in Action” on KHTS AM-1220.

“I’ve been screaming about the opiate epidemic for the past five years, so any time that I have an opportunity to scream louder and longer and have more people (hear), I’m going to do so,” he said. “So I was extremely excited that the media is really picking up on this now and everybody’s trying to make a difference– that’s the only way we’re going to save lives.”

Quashen, who has become a nationally recognized expert for his work with adults and adolescents struggling with addiction, was approached by NBC recently to be one of several experts to appear in the segment and help educate viewers on the current epidemic.

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“I believe that knowledge is power, and if we’re giving people real information about the dangers of opiates and heroin and all that stuff, that people will be able to at least make better decisions in the beginning,” Quashen said. “I want to give people reasons to say no. I want to give people reasons to be afraid.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released data showing that the number of deaths caused by accidental drug overdoses in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 2014.

The largest increase among this data was an 80 percent jump in overdose deaths from synthetic opioids and a 26 percent increase in deaths from heroin.

“Our goal at Action is to save lives. That’s what we do– we work with people that are really in trouble and we’re trying to get them out of trouble,” Quashen said. “My end goal is to put myself out of business. Unfortunately, that will probably never happen… My goal is to bring awareness to substance abuse and be able to treat people and get them off (drugs).”

Action Family Counseling is a Santa Clarita drug and alcohol rehab center. Action 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