County Nearly Doubles Narcan Vending Machines

Narcan nasal spray in a harm reduction vending machine. Photo taken Aug. 12, 2024 by Graham Kilmer

Milwaukee County has nearly doubled the amount of harm-reduction vending machines placed throughout the county.

In 2023, the county’s Behavioral Health Services placed 11 harm reduction vending machines throughout the community. The machines provide free access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone (brand name Narcan), fentanyl testing strips, medication lock bags, drug disposal pouches and gun locks.

County officials gathered at the Vin Baker Recovery Center, 4757 N 76th St, to announce that eight additional vending machines have been placed at health centers, recovery facilities and community centers around the county. The vending machine program was launched last year with funding from a $71 million legal settlement the county secured after suing manufacturers and distributors of opioids

“Keeping Milwaukee County residents safe and healthy requires a community effort,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who was unable to attend the announcement Monday, in a statement. “Increasing access to supplies, removing barriers such as cost, and destigmatizing the use of these life-saving tools has an overwhelmingly positive impact on our community.”

The vast majority, 94% of opioid overdoses in Milwaukee County, involve fentanyl, and increasingly they also involve xylazine, a horse tranquilizer. That’s according to Dr. Ben Weston, chief heath policy officer for the county. With the placement of the new vending machines, the county is adding new drug testing strips that detect both fentanyl and xylazine.

Drugs like naloxone and items like fentanyl testing strips are considered harm reduction items, because they save lives. Every time a deadly overdose is prevented with one of these items, it means someone is “one step closer to recovery,” Weston said.

One of the new machines is going in at the Vin Baker Recovery Center at 4757 N 76th St. Named after former NBA player and current assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks Vin Baker, he opened the facility earlier this year. Baker has struggled with substance abuse in the past. “I’m here today standing 15 years sober with the opportunity to pay it forward and give it back,” he said.

The recovery center provides treatment and counseling for mental health and substance abuse disorders. It also provides medically assisted treatment for opioid addiction and substance abuse treatment for people who have been, or currently are incarcerated.

“Our mission here at Van Baker is to treat, educate and to motivate individuals impacted by substance use with a continuum of care that empowers individuals, families and the communities within this comunity,” said Paulita Payton-Murphy, executive director of the center.

Payton-Murphy said the recovery center is located in a “treatment desert” with few nearby providers. Baker said he was grateful the facility was among those chosen for the new harm reduction vending machines. “I’m excited about the future of this building, this community, this city, this state,” he said. “We’re going to save a lot of lives.” 

The new machines have a QR code that will take users to a webpage describing how to use the items available. But they will also have a new booklet for anyone without internet access, or a smartphone, offering the same information, said Jeremy Triblett, the county’s prevention integration manager.

The harm reduction vending machines are generally considered a successful program by county offocials. But a spotlight was shown on their real, life-saving utility in 2023 when a parks worker used narcan from a vending machine to save two men that were actively overdosing in King Park.

Officials are beginning to consider new deployment strategies for the machines as well as new items to put in them. For example, Triblett noted, using the machines to increase access to condoms to limit the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The county is also planning to test placing a machine outdoors at 4th Dimension Sobriety, 500 E. Center St., “which allows us to understand what it looks like to have a machine in Wisconsin weather,” Triblett said.