On Sept. 17, ETSU hosted Real Talk with Zac Clark, a panel that highlighted opioid addiction and the importance of Narcan.

The panel, which is headlined by Zac Clark, Winner of Season 16 of The Bachelorette and the Founder & CEO of Release Recovery, travels the country, visiting colleges. Clark is passionate about the topic due to his own struggle with opioid addiction that began with receiving pain medicine after receiving surgery for a brain tumor.

Contributed/ETSU FSL Instagram

Clark says that his story has shown him that opioid addiction “does not discriminate, and neither does the impact it has on families and communities.”  The group targets their education at 18- to 25-year-olds, since they are the group, most impacted by opioids. Additionally, rural Appalachia is disproportionately impacted by the epidemic, leading ETSU to conduct research, provide recovery resources, and more for the surrounding area.

The primary goal of Real Talk, according to Clark, “is to empower more people to be prepared and potentially save a life” using Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of opioids in an emergency and prevent someone from dying of an overdose. They dispel myths about Narcan, such as the belief that there are consequences to administering it to a person who isn’t overdosing. They also teach participants the Lay, Spray, Stay method used to administer the medicine, which consists of laying the person on their back, spraying the Narcan up their nose using the plunger, and then waiting for first responders to arrive.

Narcan is now sold over the counter at drug stores, and the group highly encourages people to have it with them since you can never know when an opioid overdose may happen in front of you.

To learn more about Narcan and opioid emergencies, visit https://narcan.com/en or on Instagram at @narcanofficial

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