Right here under our feet in the Crescenta Valley is a great place to find happiness and many great organizations, volunteers and businesses.
Last Saturday, the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition (CVDAPC) had its first National Prescription Drug Take Back. Area residents anonymously dropped off unused, expired and unwanted prescription drugs at two area locations in La Crescenta and Montrose. The event was free and was intended to allow residents to safely dispose of potentially dangerous old pills, ointments, syrups and drops, which can be unintentionally misused or abused. It was a “no questions asked” event and the person dropping off the items did not need to give any identification. This event was just another way for the Coalition to communicate to the public the dangers of narcotics and to get them out of the hands of the first time experimenter or the avid abuser. Studies have shown that, for many, prescription drugs are the very first drugs they abuse and all too often they aren’t the last.
The National Prescription Drug Take-Back event is part of a broader initiative of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to address a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home medicine cabinets can lead to accidental poisoning, abuse and overdose. In fact, the non-medical use of prescription drugs ranks second only to marijuana as the most common form of drug abuse in the United States.   The majority of teenagers abusing prescription drugs get them from family and friends, with the home medicine cabinet as a primary source. Safe disposal of expired medications is not only good for the environment, but also keeps medicines from being tossed in the trash where they can be retrieved and possibly abused or illegally sold.
The Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition is a community-based non-profit collaboration. The mission of the Coalition is to create awareness and maintain a safe and healthy drug-free community by providing our youth a secure, caring and supportive environment. Through the award of a federal drug free communities grant, the Coalition will provide leadership development and implementation for sustainable prevention strategies for the Crescenta Valley.
For more information you may contact David Marquez at (818) 248-4957 or david@cvdapc.org. This is another great organization helping to make the Crescenta Valley a better place.
Important dates: June 7 – First Tuesday Dine Out night 5-8 at Dominick’s Italian Restaurant; June 8 – June business mixer at Century 21 Crest. July 9 – Scholarship Golf Tournament at Verdugo Hills Golf Course.
Please call our office for more details on any event. How to reach us: (818) 248-4957 / crescentachamber@aol.com / www.LaCrescenta.org / 3131 Foothill Blvd., Ste. D.

Julia Rabago is the executive
director of Crescenta Valley
Chamber of Commerce.

  Business, CVCOC, julia rabago, May 05