DE Goes Purple Event highlights community’s fight against drug abuse

SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. – The annual Delaware Goes Purple Event and quarterly meeting featured keynote speaker Zac Clark, who brought a personal message of recovery.

Peggy Geisler with the Sussex County Health Care Coalition says she has not seen much progress in reducing opioid related overdoses. However, she says fatal overdoses are dropping in two of the First State’s three counties.

“I think the fact that we are keeping it at the same level approximately and going down a little bit is showing that, maybe we are starting to turn the curve,” said Geisler. “There is a lot of different people out there that still haven’t recovered, and they are still actively using.”

Geisler adds that an important stigma to break is that people struggling with addiction should blame themselves.

“Addiction is a biological issue,” Geisler said. “We have to help people and give them an opportunity to live another day and go into treatment and get recovery.”

Season 16 Bachelorette contestant Zac Clark joined the meeting, to spread that message. Clark is a recovery advocate and actively fighting the stigma associated with substance abuse disorder. He has struggled with opioids in the past, and is using his past experiences to help people struggling with addiction today.

“I got sober twelve years ago, and what I learned when I went through my treatment and recovery is that I need to keep this as the most important thing, which is my recovery. And so, over the past twelve years, I’ve been able to do that,” Clark said. “This is my entire life, man.”

At a younger age, Clark defined himself as a “party kid.” However, when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in college, Clark ended up in the hospital. He says that was his introduction to painkillers.

“That kind of set me off on a pretty gnarly path for the next couple of years that ended up with me in Camden, New Jersey with a needle in my arm,” said Clark. “But, I am grateful for all of those moments because it got me where I am today.”

Now, Clark is working to help others find that same path to recovery. “These people are angels and we all have a story and so, what I have learned in life is that my greatest asset is my experience,” he said. “I am able to utilize that and help another person with it, life is pretty good.”