MAN WITH A PLAN –
Feb. 11, 2026 -A hiking accident in 2003 almost cost Ryan Hampton his life—not because of the injury he sustained, but because of the addiction he developed to the opioid OxyContin, which was prescribed for his pain, and eventually led to a heroin addiction. That harrowing journey led to Hampton getting sober in 2015 and being named victim co-chair in the 2019 class-action lawsuit against OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. Hampton represented 130,000 other victims, ultimately winning an $850 million payout—close to three times the settlement the company initially offered—last year. Hampton’s nonprofit, Mobilize Recovery, now advocates for legislation, resources, and funding for addiction recovery programs from federal and state governments. Since 2019, the group has also distributed 900,000 doses of the anti-overdose drug naloxone in 24 states.
