Richie Webber is a 28-year-old male who was prominently featured on A&E’s hit series “60 days in”. He currently resides in Northwest Ohio and has had no shortage of ups and downs in his life. Many have called Richie “The All-American Addict.”

He won a state title in track his sophomore year of high school; was a star football player, and even scored in the 98th percentile on the ACT. He had multiple college scholarships offers to run track in college- but all of that would quickly come crashing down. During the first football game of his junior year, Richie broke his arm. It was a major injury that required surgery. Unfortunately, Richie was prescribed not one, but two different types of highly-addictive narcotic pain killers. This lead to the start of his prescription pain killer addiction and, eventually, heroin. Richie would go on to lose his scholarships, and become a 5-time felon, spending close to 2 years in and out of jails and state institutions.

Richie tried to get clean many different times but did not have access to proper rehab or recovery resources. He would overdose several times and even flatlined on his mother’s bathroom floor. His mother frantically administered CPR until the paramedics arrived. This, however, was still not enough for Richie to get clean. Without the ability to enter rehab, Richie continued to use it for several more months.

On November 6, 2014, he turned himself in to the county jail for outstanding warrants. It was there that Richie had his epiphany when his mother came to visit him in jail and told him that his childhood friend, Bryce, had died of a heroin overdose. As he watched his mother’s eyes fill with tears, it was at that moment he knew he had to make a change. He went back to his jail cell and said a prayer he had said many times before; however, this time, he meant it. From that day, he approached his recovery with an intensity and fervor that he has never seen before.

He would spend nights in the local gym screaming and sometimes crying because of the desire to get high. He used physical activity to work his body and craving for drugs to exhaustion. He started attending 12 step meetings on a daily basis.

Today, Richie has been clean for over 4 years. He has helped nearly 1000 different people get into rehab – an opportunity he was never given and feels would have ended his addiction much, much sooner. He founded a non-profit called #FightForRecovery in honor of his best friend, Charles Buchanan, who also died from a heroin overdose. Charles was a state wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter, which inspired Richie to take his first MMA fight in honor of his fallen friend. He ended up winning that fight in 38 seconds. Today, he holds a 4-1 record at light heavyweight.

He has traveled across the country sharing his story with senators, judges, schools, and even jails. He is incredibly passionate about sharing his story with youth. He believes that if someone in recovery who had lived the drug life young enough for him to relate to had spoken to him during his teen years, he would have never fallen so far down into his addiction.

He recently launched a video series from his Facebook profile “Richie Webber Recovery” titled, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”, a series that examines serious and controversial topics regarding addiction, recovery, education, and much more. His goal is to open up his own rehab staffed entirely by people who are in recovery. He has made it his life mission to end the addiction epidemic and bring about a positive change that will resonate across the entire United States.

Ask Richie, he did it. You just have to be willing to change your life.

If you or someone you know is in need of help with addiction, or for booking information, contact Richie at connectwithrichie@gmail.com or (419) 496-2446