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Within a year, the poppy will no longer be the only way to produce heroin’s raw ingredient, and may even be brewed at home, according to a new study.
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Action Founder Relates CBS Special ‘Heroin In The Heartland’ To Santa Clarita

Ed. Note: The following is a KHTS Feature story based on an interview with Cary Quashen of Action Family Counseling.

On the heels of the CBS special “60 Minutes: Heroin in the Heartland,” many SCV parents may be wondering how the tragic stories of teen heroin addiction and overdose in suburban Columbus, Ohio could relate to Santa Clarita.


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Though heroin use was once seen as “an inner-city problem,” CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker explored the prevalence of heroin use among the teenagers of middle-to-upper class and suburban areas like Columbus, which he described as “so typically Middle American that, for years, many companies have gone there to test new products.”

“Heroin’s not like it used to be,” said Cary Quashen, founder of the Santa Clarita drug and alcohol rehab center Action Family Counseling. “You used to think of it as shooting dope in the alleys, and now you’re looking at regular people smoking heroin in parties and houses and hanging out. That’s more of a club drug, or a designer drug now.”

In the last two years alone, Quashen has seen more teens and young adults come to Action for help with heroin or opiate addictions than in the last 30 years.

“It’s extremely common right now for kids 18 and up,” he said. “In fact, in my drug rehabs throughout my whole system, almost all phone calls we’re getting is opiates– either pills or heroin.”

Related: Vaping In Santa Clarita: Alarming Trend Continues To Rise Among Youth

While some may be just as shocked by these statements as they were to hear the stories of the regular teens of Columbus on “Heroin in the Heartland,” many are really simply in denial about the growing presence of heroin and opiates in places like Santa Clarita, according to Quashen.

“I don’t know that everyone’s surprised; I think we all want to deny it’s in our backyard until– bang –it hits us in the face, and then we can’t deny it anymore,” he said. “Don’t kid yourself, we have every drug there is here in Santa Clarita– not anymore than anywhere else, but we have them here.”

For many teenagers and young adults, the road to drug addiction may begin with simply smoking a cigarette for the first time, Quashen continued. By breaking what he called “a contract” with themselves to never smoke, it opens the door to break other contracts too.

After giving into peer pressure to smoke cigarettes, it becomes that much easier to try smoking pot. The teen may still believe in their contract to never try hard drugs, but when the opportunity comes up in a social setting and they’re feeling pressure from their peers, they may find themselves breaking this contract as well.

“Drugs today are drugs of opportunity,” Quashen explained. “What happens is, they go to a party, they’re smoking a little dope (pot). Somebody says, ‘Try this.’ ‘No way, that’s hard drugs.’ They smoke a little more dope. ‘Try this.’ They’re starting to get desensitized. It’s not such a big deal. They drink a little booze. ‘Try this.’ ‘Ok.’”

And sadly, it usually just takes once to create an emotional addiction that can seem impossible to resist.

“You only have to use once to be emotionally addiced because it feels that good,” Quashen said. “How do you tell someone– 14 or 48 –that something that feels so good is bad? That’s why they chase the high.”

Another way ordinary high school students and young adults are finding themselves addicted to heroin is a result of becoming dependent on prescription pain pills– opiates –they’re taking for an injury.

Called “accidental addicts,” these individuals become physically and/or emotionally dependant on their prescription pain pills, but it becomes too expensive to sustain their addiction. Heroin, on the other hand, is also an opiate, but costs much less.

“What do you think Oxy is, or Vicodin? They’re all opiates,” Quashen said. “Doctors are going to stop writing (prescriptions), so that means they have to turn to the streets to buy these pills. They’re very expensive. Heroin in the same high, much cheaper.”

Quashen believes the way to end this national epidemic of heroin and opiate addiction in teens and young adults of suburban areas like Columbus and Santa Clarita is for parents to spend more time with their kids and stop denying there might be a problem.

The average parent spends only two to 10 minutes with their kid every day, according to Quashen, with the presence of peer pressure through a constant connection with social media skyrocketing.

“It’s a whole different ball game now, why kids are using so young,” he said. “We need to stay connected with our kids. We need to talk to them about drugs when they’re (little) and never stop, and if we think something is wrong, something is wrong. Go with your gut.”

KHTS Feature Story

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

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

Action Founder Relates CBS Special ‘Heroin In The Heartland’ To Santa Clarita

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About Melissa Lampert-Abramovitch

Melissa Lampert-Abramovitch has been writing for KHTS since Feb. 2014. She currently writes “Community Spotlight” and feature stories, and coordinates all aspects of both the”KHTS Adopt a Pet” video feature series and “Top Things to Do in Santa Clarita.” She is the creator of “KHTS Adopt a Pet” and acted as News Editor from 2019-2020, as well as Features Director and Newsroom Manager from 2016-2018. A former Valley Publications Staff Writer, Melissa was a contributor to the Santa Clarita Gazette and Canyon Country Magazine from 2015-2016. She has published feature stories with Pet Me Magazine, The Pet Press, The Signal, COC's Cougar News, and KJAMS Radio.