Santa Clarita Valley residents had the opportunity to help prevent prescription-drug abuse by safely disposing of their unused or expired prescription drugs at Henry Mayo on Saturday.

In partnership with Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, Action Family Foundation officials held their second SCV Drug Takeback event in an effort to get prescription drugs off the streets.

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“In this country alone, we lose one person every 19 minutes from a drug overdose, which is the most preventable death that you can imagine,” said Cary Quashen, founder and CEO of Action Family Counseling drug and alcohol rehab centers and the non-profit Action Family Foundation. “Right now the major problem we’re having is a prescription pill epidemic, which is also turning into heroin… It’s really become almost a disaster here in this country, so we’re trying in every way we can to get them off the streets.”

Event officials set up a table where residents could pick up information on prescription drug abuse, prevention and disposal and collection bins outside the main entrance to Henry Mayo.

Residents had the opportunity to anonymously drop off their prescription pills so they could be safely disposed of by Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

Related Article: Henry Mayo Hospital Holding Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

“We’re really on a mission right now to get these pills off the streets,” Quashen said. “If you talk to the children that I deal with, let’s say 25 and under, and you say where did you get these pills from, everybody says the same thing: from my mother’s medicine cabinet, from my father’s medicine cabinet, from my friend’s medicine cabinet. It’s so important for us to educate the community to get these pills out of your house.”

It is unsafe to simply throw pills in the trash because children or addicts can find them, and flushing pills down the toilet can be hazardous to the environment, according to Quashen.

All drugs collected at the drug takeback are set to be brought to a safe disposal site where they will be burned by DEA officials.

“If we save one life, we’ve accomplished a major mission,” he said. “Last year– our first time doing this –we collected 134 pounds. Imagine this, what if some of your children got to those pills? What if?”

Related Article: Action Family Counseling Adds New Treatment To Santa Clarita Center

Saturday’s event may be the last drug takeback in Santa Clarita due to changes in the way residents are able to dispose of medications.

“The DEA, along with the federal government, has changed some of the rules and laws that will make it majorly easier for people to dispose of pills,” Quashen said. “Meaning they now can bring their prescriptions back to their pharmacists and their pharmacists can go dispose of them. They can bring them back to hospitals and they can dispose of them. We’re really making great strides in getting these pills away from our children and addicts.”

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