Alleghany County Sheriff, son tell story of overcoming heroin addiction

ALLEGHANY COUNTY, Va – As we wrap up our series on the Faces of Addiction, we introduce you to perhaps the most unlikely sufferer we talked to.

Virginia State Police recently documented the story of the Alleghany County Sheriff Kevin Hall and his son, Ryan, who got addicted to heroin.

State Police are expected to release the training video statewide this fall.

“You never see yourself or your family ever going through this situation, you just don't think it will ever happen to you,” explained Kevin Hall.

"It" being Ryan's heroin addiction.

The past three years have been tough for the entire Hall family.

It’s an unexpected path from the oldest son with a promising future.

“In my mind one day he was going to end up being a lawyer and he was going to be a politician, he might even be the governor of the State of Virginia,” the sheriff explained.

At Ryan's own DARE graduation he was selected as an essay winner.

In high school he went on to serve as the Virginia Youth Attorney General, occupying his own office in the state capital building.

Even a full academic scholarship to college couldn't prevent him from falling into the pit of addiction.

It all started with a football injury Ryan's senior year at Covington High School that led to multiple surgeries.

“Probably for a year straight, a year or even maybe over a year I was on and off pain killers, every day, prescribed,” explained Ryan.

A prescription - the launching point for many heroin addicts. 

When Ryan's doctor's stopped writing prescriptions a dope dealer started filling the void.

“A guy said to me, you know, if you like prescriptions so much, you know, you should try heroin and I have never even heard of heroin before,” Ryan recalled.    

Ryan said his heroin use started out once a week, but then progressed to every day.

“When you’re getting high your already wondering, planning how you're going to get high again tomorrow. I wasn't even getting high I was using the drugs to not be sick. The fun of using drugs was just not there anymore I was just doing it to keep well to be able to go to work,” Ryan said.

He described the withdrawals like having the worst case of the flu you've ever experienced.

The fear of that sickness lead him down a path of criminal behavior.

He eventually served 18 months behind bars for check fraud, investigated and arrested by his father's own deputies.

“There was a time in my life that every time that phone rang late at night I was just waiting for that phone call hey my son overdosed and died from this addiction or he had gotten shot or killed or he had gotten involved in something really bad. When he went to jail, it was like unfortunately, I hate to say this, but it was kind of like a relief that you knew he was safe,” Kevin Hall explained.

In that time behind bars, Ryan was able to get clean and stay that way.

“Whenever the drug task force is looking for somebody who has heroin one of the last people they're going to look for is the sheriff's son, so I used that to my advantage. That didn't help me at all, that just got me deeper and deeper into an addiction,” said Ryan.

Ryan was using 10 bags of fentanyl a day, all at one time.

His father said it's enough to kill most people.

“How he ever was able to survive I think is just a message from God that there's a purpose out here for you to share your story to help save someone else,” Kevin Hall explained.

That's exactly what Ryan's doing now owning his story.

The students gain wisdom from his painful past and in return Ryan gets to look forward to another day clean and sober. 

“It holds me accountable. It makes me have a little bit of responsibility, you know, I wouldn't feel right if I went out and got high this week and I got to come do this interview with you next week. I would feel like I'm living a lie,” Ryan said.

After years of struggle, he's now speaking and living the truth.