Dale King, an Army veteran, returned to Portsmouth in 2010 to find the opioid crisis and drug overdose deaths occurring there. He opened a CrossFit gym, and one of his trainees was having drug problems. As a result, he began teaching Crossfit lessons to those who were in recovery, were looking to get sober, or knew someone who was.
Opioid Crisis (Photo: Napoli Law)
Two Veterans Fight The Opioid Crisis Through Fitness
The city of Portsmouth was widely recognized as the epicenter of the opioid crisis in Ohio in 2020, which caused around 11 Ohioans to die from an accidental opioid overdose every single day. Two military veterans, Dale King and Chase Millsap, have made it their goal to heal Portsmouth one workout at a time.
Portsmouth was a thriving community decades before it was known as the “Pill Mill of America,” but after economic hardship brought on by the loss of steel mills and factories in the 1980s, combined with the over-prescription of opioids like OxyContin, a drug abuse epidemic started that spread through generations.
Dale King was prepared to return to Portsmouth after serving in the Army as a Military Intelligence Officer from 2003 to 2007 and assisting the 10th Special Forces Group during two deployments to Iraq. His love of exercise inspired him to launch PSKC CrossFit in 2010.
A new documentary is now being released about the gym’s efforts. The documentary Small Town Strong, which premieres on Amazon and Apple TV+ on October 3, covers the gym’s efforts to support its members’ recovery and step up its campaign against addiction in the area.
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Small Town Strong Documentary
The documentary Small Town Strong was created over a number of years, tracking how members recovered and developed both inside and outside of the gym. Chase and Spencer Millsap, brothers, co-direct it. Chase, a Marine Corps and Army Special Forces veteran, met King while touring Portsmouth with his wife, a native of the city.
Portsmouth is one of those cities that was hit hard by the Opioid Crisis. Overdoses have increased over time as users have turned to fentanyl and heroin as a means of satisfying their addiction.
The structure of Small Town Strong is both intimate and sweeping. The scale of the opioid and addiction issue in Ohio and the United States is evident in the news video. Experts in medicine go into great detail about the effects of addiction on the brain. The documentary is very personal, introducing viewers inside the gym as participants discuss their challenges. The center of it is King, an imposing figure with tattoos covering one arm, who is trying to inspire and motivate the others. People who are in recovery share their experiences. One such person is PSKC member Sarah Wilson, who routinely pushes herself there and displays the locations of her previous drug usage.
The Small Town Strong documentary highlights the progress made by many gymgoers who are in recovery, but it is also unafraid to discuss the overwhelming nature of addiction and the scope of the problem in the United States. One of the key individuals who had assisted the gym in getting in touch with the health nonprofit and had contributed to the expansion, overdosed and died during the movie’s production. He was one of the three individuals the gym lost during filming. King and the brothers were motivated by the loss to finish Small Town Strong and continue filming.
Small Town Strong streams on Amazon and Apple TV+ starting on Oct. 3.
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