Fentanyl Nation to Recovery Future: Advocating for Life in the Face of Toxic Crisis

Ryan Hampton

A prominent advocate, speaker, author, and media commentator, Ryan Hampton travels coast-to-coast to add solutions to our national addiction and drug overdose crisis. In recovery from a decade-long opioid addiction, Hampton is regarded as a forefront expert and thought leader in America’s rising addiction recovery advocacy movement. For nearly a decade, he has worked with multiple non-profits and addiction recovery organizing campaigns. He is now a prominent, leading face and voice of recovery advocacy and is now working to change the longstanding negative narratives about those impacted by addiction, recovery, and overdose. Hampton breaks down cultural barriers that have kept people suffering in silence and is helping to inspire a new generation of advocates recovering out loud, pushing for common-sense policy. He was part of the core team that released the first-ever U.S. Surgeon General’s report on alcohol, drugs, and health in 2016 and was singled out by Forbes the following year as a top social entrepreneur in the recovery movement.

Through the Overdose Response Initiative, a not-for-profit coalition Ryan helped form in 2019, over 950,000 free doses of naloxone have been distributed in 21 states as of January 2025. The alliance comprises nearly 40 organizational stakeholders nationally.

Ryan lives in Nevada with his husband, Sean, and their boxer puppy, Quincy.
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