Putting a face to International Overdose Awareness Day

When death strikes, it always leaves marks of pain. Sometimes for individuals. Sometimes for families. Sometimes for whole communities.

This time, death left its mark of pain in the River Valley. A kid with a big heart and a ready smile fought an addiction that was overwhelming and that is all too commonplace in this valley, in this state, in this country.

Zach fought his addiction. His family prayed with and supported him as he fought to break the addiction. Death’s strike was too much, Zach lost, and an Arkansas community was left with the marks of pain. 

I had the opportunity to learn about Zach’s life and pay my respects at his funeral. I wanted to share his story on International Overdose Awareness Day in hopes that it would be a balm to the pain the far too many feel.

Zach was close to his grandma. She had passed away in the last month and Zach took it hard. Still, he’d been clean for a month. He had a promising job interview set for that next morning, and tickets for the Jellyroll concert in the next few weeks. But staying clean, trying to turn his life around, was a battle that plagued his every moment.

That night, he ran errands, saw friends, and withdrew cash in Ozark. His family says he likely also met his dealer. When Zach returned home that night and was alone in the bathroom, his addiction made its move and Zach lit a glass pipe. He had used meth before, but this meth was laced with fentanyl. It was Daniel, Zach’s best friend, who found him alone, in the dark, dead on the bathroom floor.

The Arkansas Department of Health keeps track of fatal and non-fatal overdoses. For the public, if you go to those websites, you’ll find that there is not a full accounting of fatal and non-fatal overdoses. Nearly half the counties in the state are not sharing those numbers. Understanding the full extent of the problem is critical if we want to solve the problem. What we do not know, we cannot fight. 

Fortunately, the state is making Narcan more widely available. Doing this at low or no cost saves lives. But there is so much more to do. We can stop stigmatizing and minimizing the lives of drug users. We can re-humanize those who struggle with addiction. We can offer treatments options in our jails and prisons. And we can make addiction treatment widely available for those seeking help.

People use drugs. We cannot easily change that reality. If you are someone who uses drugs, please try not to do it alone. Fentanyl is lethal and is being found in other drugs.

Narcan can save you, but Narcan won’t save you if there is no one there to administer it. There is also a support hotline, Never Use Alone, that you can call. The number is 1-800-484-3731. We do not have to be alone. Be a survivor and live.

Zachari Thomas Edward Mullen of Ozark was recently laid to rest. I was blessed to be there to pay my respects and give hugs to his family. The marks of pain from death’s strike were evident on their faces and in their tears. Zach was a drug user, an addict. It’s easy to write his life off because of this fact alone. But on International Overdose Awareness Day, there’s one more story about this 22-year-old boy and his best friend Daniel that you should know.

This story is from Nikolle Ard, his mom in love. “There are times in their friendship [Zach and Daniel] that I would have done anything to separate them. The two of them during their teenage years were difficult, to say the least. Then, on April Fool’s Day 2014, they had a four-wheeler accident that changed everything. The accident left two little boys laying on the ground, one little body torn open, with muscle, tendons and blood everywhere. The other little body broken and going into shock. I’m laying between these two boys, as first responders and med flight are assessing. Then I hear Zach say, ‘Please don’t worry about me, save Danny.’ In that moment, I saw the absolute love he had for my little boy. And in that moment, he became mine.”

Zach fought a personal battle and lost. Zach had an overdose in Arkansas. But Zach is not only a statistic. He was a good and very loved young man. That much is evident from the large community who showed up for his services. 

The battle Zach lost was death’s strike leaving marks of pain in the River Valley. Let’s act now before death’s strike leaves its marks of pain on yet another community and yet another family.

Chris Jones is a minister, physicist and former candidate for Arkansas governor.

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