WELL+BEING
Washington Goes Purple fighting substance abuse
written by ROXANN MILLER
his dream, with his addiction behind him. This year, he plans to finish his autobiography, “From Prison to The Olympics – The Tony Hoffman Story.” Hoffman’s goal is to open the Tony Hoffman Wellness Center, where he hopes to redirect the lives of those struggling with addiction onto a path of sobriety and purpose.
Despite some setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington County’s largest initiative against substance abuse will be back for its fourth year – ready to wage war against drug addiction. Washington Goes Purple stresses education for local youths about the dangers of opioids and prescription painkillers, Isolation impact while raising awareness and encouraging the community to Studies show that 75% to 82% of heroin users started with pain “go purple” through the end of September. medication, said Victoria Sterling, director of behavioral health The kickoff event will be Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. in Hagerstown’s City services for the Washington County Health Department and coPark. MTV celebrity and professional skateboarder Brandon No- chair of Washington Goes Purple. vak will share his recovery story. “Like most counties across the United States, we have been Born in Baltimore, Novak was a skateboard prodigy. At a hit hard by COVID. Our numbers (of overdoses and overdose young age, he was discovered by Tony Hawk and tapped to trav- deaths) were going down in 2019, which we were really exel the world as a professional skateboarder. Eventually, Novak cited about. Then, COVID hit and our numbers went back rose to fame as an MTV celebrity. Although he appeared to have up, mainly because of isolation.” it all, behind the scenes, he said his life was falling apart due to heroin addiction. After more than 25 years of drug dependence, Novak is clean and now shares his story and helps others get sober. The annual Recovery Walk, held in conjunction with National Recovery Month, will be Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. at University Plaza in Hagerstown. At the event, former BMX Elite Pro Tony Hoffman will share his story of recovery from an opioid addiction. After getting paroled from prison on Emily Keller (left) and Vicki Sterling (right) with pro Tony Hoffman Dec. 13, 2008, Hoffman started living out skateboarder, Brandon Novak.
