On Tuesday afternoon, about 50 students, faculty and community members gathered inside the Rackham Graduate School for a conversation about mental health, addiction and the pressures students face, hosted by the University of Michigan Opioid Research Institute.
The event, co-sponsored by Release Recovery and Emergent Biosolutions, featured Emmitt Smith, National Football League Hall of Famer; Zac Clark, Release Recovery founder and CEO; and Public Health senior Shravya Ghantasala, co-president of The Lookout Project, a U-M student-led harm reduction organization. Panelists discussed the stigma surrounding addiction, the importance of raising awareness and the challenges young people face when navigating mental health and substance use on college campuses.
The panel opened with an introduction by Amy Bohnert, co-director of ORI. In her remarks, Bohnert said the organization’s mission is to bridge academic research with statewide and national partnerships addressing the opioid epidemic.
“In 2023, the University of Michigan launched the Opioid Research Institute with the goal of addressing the societal and individual challenges presented by opioid and substance misuse,” Bhonert said. “This institute serves as a connection point for community members and organizations engaged in opioid-related work, bridging the gap between academia and state national partners.”
Clark, an official spokesperson of Narcan Nasal Spray, an over-the-counter emergency medication used to treat drug overdose, began the discussion by sharing his personal experience with addiction and recovery in his late 20s.
“At 27 years old, I found myself running around Camden, N.J. — one of the largest open-air drug markets in the country –– using (intravenous) heroin and crack cocaine on a daily basis,” Clark said. “That’s just my truth. I say that bluntly because I believe honesty helps eliminate the stigma we’re all trying to fight.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Clark said the number one thing he hopes students take away from the panel is a reminder of their own self-worth.
“It’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems,” Clark said. “It’s very cliche to say, ‘you’re not alone,’ but it’s very true. If you look to your left and you look to your right in the class or at the game or at the party, most likely, one of those people has felt the same way that you feel, and so you’re allowed to talk about it. You’re allowed to put your hand up and ask for help. You’re allowed to have bad days.”
Smith, who also serves as an official spokesperson for Narcan Nasal Spray, said he is connected with the Ready to Rescue campaign, a national effort to expand access to Naloxone, the medication that reverses opioid overdoses. Smith said he started advocating for substance abuse awareness and recovery after both his teammate and sister-in-law suffered from overdoses.
“I personally lost a teammate, Mark Tuinei, back in (1999) to an overdose,” Smith said. “He was my left tackle, and that relationship was a relationship that actually got me through one of the darkest times of my career, when I was hurt and down and going through a state of depression myself. Then, fast forward, my sister-in-law is diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, and (during) her recovery, after chemotherapy, she went through a state of depression dealing with the pain by popping too many pills, and went through an opioid overdose..”
Smith said addiction has impacted many people, which is why awareness is so important.
“Someone in this room is probably two or three degrees of separation from someone who’s been touched by drugs,” Smith said. “Awareness and small steps like that can save lives. We can’t sit back and think things won’t happen to us, because they do. They happen to people all the time.”
In an interview with The Daily, Smith said he values the importance of panels that bring together people with different backgrounds to discuss shared mental health and substance abuse challenges.
“The diversity of thought is one of the most important things a human being can have,” Smith said. “That’s the only way you break down the walls and limitations. And so it’s important to get Zac’s point of view. It’s important to have a point of view like mine, it’s important to have a point of view like someone else to make sure that out of all these seats in here, you touch somebody.”
Ghantasala then discussed the Lookout Project and described how her organization equips students with prevention supplies and education on the opioid epidemic.
“The Lookout Project operates on three pillars: distribution, education and advocacy,” Ghantasala said. “We equip people with Naloxone and harm reduction supplies, educate students about the opioid epidemic and treatment options and advocate for more humanizing policies.”
The panel concluded with a short educational video demonstrating how to properly administer Narcan. In an interview with The Daily, LSA freshman Lexie Romero said she appreciated that the panel went beyond spreading awareness and gave attendees practical knowledge and perspective.
“I think it’s important to bring awareness to being able to use substances in a moderate manner, but then also addressing the fact that it is very easy to become addicted to things,” Romero said. “I think that it was really cool that they brought Narcan spokespersons here so that they can not only bring awareness, but make the topic more real for students.”
Daily Staff Reporter Caroline Wroldsen can be reached atcwrold@umich.edu. Daily Senior News Editor Emma Spring can be reached atsprinemm@umich.edu.
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