Vending machines dispense just about anything these days — snacks, soda, aspirin, laundry products.
Add anti-overdose medication to that list.
In Las Vegas, health officials have begun offering Narcan, the life-saving nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. It’s the brand-name version of naloxone.
The Center for Behavioral Health in Nevada has stocked three vending machines with the life-saving medicine, reports KTNV.
“There are numerous kits inside those machines,” says Krista Hales, who works for the CBH. “Narcan is becoming more readily available in Nevada, it’s being used more often, and we see a lot of reversals of overdoses.”
Las Vegas vending machines offer overdose drug Narcan https://t.co/OlTxFSG5qY pic.twitter.com/YYj1Y2mceV
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The machines also currently stock clean syringes for people who are engaging in intravenous or intra-muscular drug use. And in the coming months, the health organization has plans to add other items, like safe-sex kits, personal hygiene kits, and pregnancy tests.
The Narcan kits are free, but only for those have registered with the CBH’s syringe exchange program. Registrants will then get a magnetic card that can be used on the machines to access the drug.
