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J-Team Discusses Growing Danger Of Narcotics In Santa Clarita 

Officials with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s Juvenile Intervention Team, (J-Team) discussed the dangers of narcotics and signs to look for if someone is possibly using them in a special segment with KHTS. 

With drugs continuously getting stronger, drugs that are not believed to be as problematic are becoming more dangerous, even for adult users. 

“Parents will say, ‘they’re only smoking marijuana.’ But the THC content is getting so strong and that it can just cause a lot of the youth or the people using it to hallucinate,” said Robby Robinson, a drug intervention specialist for the J-Team. “I heard a gentleman tell me that ‘the drugs are not good unless he overdoses,’ and he always had Narcan so he can get out of it.”

Part of the reason that drugs are becoming more potent, is due to them being laced in Fentanyl. 

A strong synthetic opioid, Fentanyl is being laced into more and more narcotics because it is cheaper than other drugs, and dealers can make more money selling less product that can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

As a result, Fentanyl can make an already deadly drug such as heroin even more dangerous, drug experts said.

Overdoses continue to be problematic in the Santa Clarita Valley, partially due to drugs being laced with Fentanyl, and all drugs becoming stronger as their sources look for ways to make them more competitive, according to officials. 

“For 2019, we had 13 (fentanyl) overdoses the entire year,” said Jeff Cacic, a detective for the Santa Clarita J-Team. “In 2020, we had 23; year to date 2020 we had seven. Whereas this year we currently have 16 year to date. So we are over double compared to last year. The narcotics are getting stronger from all angles, marijuana, meth, fentanyl, heroin, it’s all getting stronger, it’s all getting more potent.”   

In 2021 so far, the biggest spike of overdoses came between March and June, with approximately 13 overdoses during that time period. 

See Related: Inmates Administer Narcan To Two Fellow Inmates Suffering From Overdoses In Santa Clarita Jail

Over the years, deputies have learned that some of the most common gateway drugs are THC and vape products, Cacic said. 

“Vape is a more common one that we see, because vape products seem to look very similar to marijuana or THC-based products,” Cacic said. “Tobacco and vapes are more of a gateway drug.” 

Within the last year, Cacic has responded to several reported overdoses due to marijuana and THC, despite the misconception that it is not possible to do so. 

“I took a report the other day of a juvenile under the age of 14 who bought a THC laced cookie and ended up overdosing on it because it was a lot more than her body can handle,” Cacic said. “She ended up having a seizure and fainting and needed to go to the hospital.” 

For parents that feel that their children may be using narcotics, but are not certain, Detective Cacic provided a list of different symptoms and paraphernalia to look for. 

If a person starts to use heroin, they tend to become more relaxed, he said. 

“Heroin is a depressant,” Cacic said. “You will see people acting lethargic, they want to sleep all the time and just kind of down. Whereas methamphetamine is a stimulant or an upper. People take that and work hours on end. It gives you a heightened sense of alertness.” 

Another thing to look for that is common amongst heroin users is pieces of aluminum foil with black smears or burn marks, as it is often used as a surface to “cook” heroin. 

Throughout Robinson’s and Cacic’s career, they have come across several good kids that come from good families who suffer due to drugs. The team highly encourages all parents to sit down and have a talk with their children to discuss the dangers of drugs to educate each other.    

“You have to get involved in your kids’ life,” Robinson said. “I don’t care if they aren’t in your house, they are your children. You have to know their friends, who they are associating with and the type of media they are involved with.” 

Young children are very influenced about what they see on social media, and can be peer-pressured into trying narcotics, J-Team officials said. 

“Parents have to step out of their comfort zone and say, ‘you know what, I don’t know about this and I need to find answers and I need assistance with this,'” Robinson said. “You have to take a considerable amount of time with your kids and talk with them and educate yourself. That is what I am doing here, is trying to educate parents to step out and find out what is going on.” 

In certain instances, youth feel drugs are a “right of passage,” Robinson said. 

“What we want to do with the J-Team is stop these kids from getting into that ‘rights of passage,’ where drug use is a common thing growing up,” Robinson said. “No, it is not a right of passage, it’s a way of destruction. I heard a guy say, ‘the whole perspective is destruction.'” 

Robinson strongly encourages kids to not fall prey to peer-pressure on drug use, even though some of their icons, movie stars or bands may use drugs and talk about it like it is nothing. 

An important thing to remember, Robinson explains, is that musicians and movie stars can afford good treatment, while many young people in Santa Clarita cannot. 

“If you use drugs, sooner or later it will catch up with you,” Robinson said. “Three things are going to happen to you if you use drugs, you’re either going to end up in prison, you’re going to overdose or you’re going to die.” 

While some addicts think deputies only care about making arrests, some will come back and thank law enforcement for taking them into custody, according to Cacic. 

He recounted a story of a woman who was a drug user, who was arrested “at her lowest point.” A few months after her arrest, deputies making a traffic stop were approached by the woman, who recognized one of the deputies. 

“She came up behind us and said, ‘thank you for arresting me, because it was what I needed to realize I needed to stop doing this,'” Cacic said. 

Deputies are urging Santa Clarita residents to never fear calling 9-1-1 if someone overdoses and there are drugs at the scene. 

“11376.5 of the Health and Safety Code, is the Good Samaritan Law, and that states that as law enforcement our main mission is to simply render aid and for any simple amount of narcotics or paraphernalia we will not arrest anybody for,” Cacic said. “We will seize the narcotics that are in plain view and book those as found narcotics and write a Found Narcotic Report, however, there is no crime or criminal consequences. The idea behind that is to provide help over arrest. We would rather help them and get them the help they need and avoid an overdose death than have them scared of being arrested and going to jail.” 

For anyone whether it be parents or youth needing help with drug addiction or wanting to get more educated on narcotics can contact Robinson directly at 661-607-2038.             


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J-Team Discusses Growing Danger Of Narcotics In Santa Clarita 

2 comments

  1. The Calfornia voters foolishly voted to legalize marijuana. Having a doctor’s note for medical marijuana wasn’t enough for them. Next, revenue from it sales was far less than it was previously forecasted (a total lie just to get it on ballot). Now dispensaries are receiving government money (paycheck protection program). What a total sham, and every Blue state legalized this brain killing drug.

  2. Again, you get what you vote for…

    Wait for legalized prostitution. Coming soon to a shopping center near you. everyone has to make a living, messed up mindset that is destroying our community. Drugs and everything that comes along with it. Then you relocate to vote the same nonsense elsewhere.

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About Louie Diaz

Louie was born and raised in Santa Clarita. At the age of two Louie lost his vision due to a brain tumor. However, Louie doesn't let blindness stop him from doing what ever it is he wants to accomplish. Growing up some of his favorite hobbies were wood working, fishing and riding bikes. Louie graduated from College of the Canyon in December of 2017, with a Broadcast Journalism degree. Growing up Louie has always wanted to be a fire fighter or a police officer, but because of his blindness Louie knew that wouldn't work. Louie has always loved listening to police and fire radio traffic, using a scanner, and he figured if he was going to listen to the scanner so much, he should do something with it.