Ron Zoldan

YOUNGSTOWN — May 19 was when Ron Zoldan, 33, of Canfield, vice president of Phantom Fireworks, was charged with two serious drug offenses while driving through Poland, but the root of Zoldan’s troubles began in 2015.

That’s the year he suffered a back injury and was prescribed opiates for pain. He was prescribed the drugs for about a year.

“I was very naive and unaware of how addictive these pain pills were,” he said. He expected the pills to help him through his recovery, but they left him with something else.

“When I was taken off of the pain pills, I went through withdrawal with no understanding whatsoever of what that entailed,” he said during an interview last week in his attorney’s office in Boardman.

“It was really going through hell. You felt like you would die. At that point, I went elsewhere to find opiates that would supplement me, feeling terrible like I did. That was really the start of my addiction.”

He went to rehab two times in the years that followed. He was sober for more than a year both times, “but through one thing and another, I made some bad mistakes,” he said.

“I wish it was easy as me saying ‘no.’ But the physical, mental issues that come from them, your mind changes. Opiates build a tolerance.”

He said the addiction grew each time he relapsed.

“It’s hard to find a silver lining in what happened, but I was well on my way, close to death,” Zoldan said of his most recent relapse.

Zoldan said he reached out to tell his story “in hopes that others can learn from my mistakes and not end up in the same predicament I am facing at this moment.”

ARREST AND RECOVERY

He is back in recovery again after his arrest in May. His case will be considered by a Mahoning County grand jury soon to determine whether he will be indicted. The charges are serious, and he could get prison time if convicted.

During a traffic stop, a Poland police officer found three plastic bags containing heroin and methamphetamine in the car.

During his current rehab, he is in intensive outpatient treatment following a 30-day inpatient rehab soon after the arrest. Zoldan said his treatment has been successful, but it’s not easy.

“There are days where you struggle a lot. There are other days where I don’t struggle that much at all. It’s day to day,” he said.

He is in a phase called post acute withdrawal syndrome. The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior said this phase can last for months to years from the point a person gets clean.

“You’re never cured from this disease,” Zoldan said, but if a person can make it to the two-year point, it’s a big milestone. During those two years, a person can go through depression and other issues similar to the initial detoxification stage, Zoldan said.

He is fortunate to have gotten good quality treatment for his addiction, “but it’s been tough for me to fight off. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody else, any demographic, no matter where you come from, who you are. This disease does not discriminate whatsoever.

“I have seen all walks of life in the time I have spent in rehab. I’ve met some great people, but we share a similar disease and it’s tough to shake. I’ve lost a lot of friends, unfortunately,” he said of people he has known who have died from an addiction.

“I’ve seen the impact it’s had on the families around it. You don’t just hurt the person who is addicted. You hurt everybody around you, and you cause turmoil and tension and estrangement between your family, business, friends. It could cost me everything in life.”

PERSONAL LOSSES

He lost his marriage in 2020, and he is allowed to have only supervised visitation with his daughter. He also is on administrative leave from his his job at Phantom Fireworks.

“I spent a little bit of time in jail when I was arrested and am facing significant time in prison because of my arrest,” he said.

He is hoping he can enter Mahoning County Common Pleas Court’s drug court program, run by Judge John Durkin. “That would be a great help for me,” Zoldan said.

Zoldan’s arrest in May changed Zoldan’s life, his attorney, Jerry Ingram, said.

“Imagine going from the vice presidency of a big company to being on TV while you are being arraigned in Struthers Municipal Court on drug charges. Talk about a fall from grace,” Ingram said.

“It also kills me that my daughter is going to read that at some point,” Zoldan said.

Zoldan’s health suffered because of his addiction. His hair color changed, and he was suffering from an autoimmune disease because of drug use, he said. His normal hair color has returned.

One thing Zoldan has learned is it is important to interact with others in a similar situation.

“We all pretty much share the same feeling, the same patterns. It really doesn’t matter the specific drug,” he said of addicts. “One thing you learn in recovery is you’re not really going through recovery unless you are helping other people get through it at the same time, which is the whole point of 12-step programs,” Zoldan said.

He does all he can to help others get to their first 12-step meeting and into recovery and helping them to “think there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

Being involved with others who are at various stages of addiction “keeps it raw because you are remembering exactly what you went through. Even if you are 30 years sober, you need to help people new in addiction to keep it fresh in your mind.”

erunyan@vindy.com