HCADA Interview

TAMPA, Fla. — For Ellen Snelling, it’s still so surreal. In 2016, she got the unexpected phone call no one ever wants. Her brother died of a drug overdose in Miami.

“I was actually at Universal Studios. It was right before Christmas,” she remembered. “And got a phone call that he had overdosed and died — I just — I can’t describe how — it was just horrible.”

And then, in the summer of 2021, history nearly repeated itself when someone in her immediate family had a similar scare, and according to Snelling, “came very close to death” but miraculously survived.

“It’s almost like you can’t comprehend it,” said Snelling.

TAMPA, Fla. (June 30, 2021) – Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance (HCADA), a community-based nonprofit offering alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse education and prevention activities since 2003, is excited to announce its relocation, effective July 1, 2021.

HCADA will be moving from its current location at 2815 E. Henry Avenue, Suite B-1 in Tampa to new office space on the campus of their longtime partner organization, Agency for Community Treatment Services, Inc. (ACTS), at 4612 North 56th Street.

“We’re excited about the move,” said Executive Director Cindy Grant, “and very grateful to ACTS not only for the space but also for our many years of partnership in substance abuse education and prevention.”

Armed with this information, we would try to seek a grant to try to specifically help these families and their parents so they can be reunited with these kids once they get the treatment they need," said Ellen Snelling of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance.

It is estimated that 14 people die from an opioid drug overdose each and every day in our state, and Tampa Bay is ground zero for this deadly crisis. While Governor Rick Scott has declared a public health emergency and set aside millions of dollars to fight the opioid epidemic, is it enough? How did opioid addiction get so out of hand and what can be done about it?

Vaping is not an issue only for high school students. Gary White, the associate director of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance (HCADA) in Florida, provides vaping and tobacco education to students who have been cited per state statutes. The youngest student he has worked with was only nine. Recently, the organization worked with a 10-year-old boy who had been caught with 12 Juuls in school. (Juul is a popular brand of e-cigarette.) “When he attended our class, we questioned why he had so many Juuls,” says White. “His reply was, ‘A man at my apartment gave them to me. He said he’d pay me a part of the money I made when I sold them.’

Denise Birungi Evans of HCADA offers tips for a safe, drug-free homecoming season for high school students.