Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley Announces Placement of Eight Additional Harm Reduction Vending Machines

MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Behavioral Health Services have announced the placement of eight additional Harm Reduction Vending Machines throughout Milwaukee County. The Milwaukee County DHHS Behavioral Health Services Harm Reduction Vending Machine initiative is a cross-sector education and dissemination partnership for harm reduction supplies. These additional eight machines, seven indoor and one outdoor, bring the total number of vending machines to 19. Additionally, all 19 Harm Reduction Vending Machines are now stocked with first-of-their-kind fentanyl/xylazine combination testing packs.

“Keeping Milwaukee County residents safe and healthy requires a community effort,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. “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. I am grateful to the Milwaukee County DHHS Behavioral Health Services team for their work in not only this initiative, but all the harm reduction initiatives they are championing. I also applaud the community businesses and organizations who have stepped up to host a Harm Reduction Vending Machine and provide this resource to their community.”

In 2023, Milwaukee County launched 11 Harm Reduction Vending Machines to combat the opioid crisis, overdose deaths, and gun violence throughout the county. These vending machines have provided free access to harm reduction and prevention supplies, including nasal naloxone, fentanyl test strips, drug deactivation pouches, medication lock bags, and gun locks. Since the placement of these vending machines in August 2023, more than 4,500 boxes of naloxone, 5,100 fentanyl test strips, 1,500 drug deactivation bags, 3,300 medication lock bags, and 2,500 gun locks have been distributed.

“These harm reduction vending machines are designed to save lives,” said Milwaukee County Chief Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ben Weston. “With over 94% of opioid overdoses in Milwaukee County caused by fentanyl and a record nearly 30% involving the animal tranquilizer xylazine, the addition of the new combined fentanyl/xylazine test strips is a critical step in harm reduction in our community. We saw progress in 2023, and we continue to see signs of further decline in overdose deaths in our community this year. These vending machines from DHHS are one of the multiple essential steps Milwaukee County is taking to fight the opioid epidemic and make Milwaukee County the healthiest in the state.”

The addition of these new vending machines drastically increases the accessibility of life-saving supplies throughout the County. Most vending machines are now within one or two blocks of an MCTS bus route. In 2023, 90% of Milwaukee County residents who experienced an overdose lived within a ten-minute drive of a Harm Reduction Vending Machine and one in five of those residents are with within a ten-minute walk.

“At DHHS, our goal is to create easy access to services and resources across Milwaukee County through our No Wrong Door philosophy. The Harm Reduction Vending Machines are one important initiative our team at Behavioral Health Services have implemented to achieve this goal and protect the health of our community,” said Shakita LaGrant-McClain, Executive Director, Department of Health & Human Services. “The vending machines work in collaboration with our community engagement efforts to hand out harm reduction supplies in person and the Better Ways to Cope campaign to promote services, regrant funds to community organizations, and share resources with community members. By taking a multi-pronged approach to harm reduction, we can positively impact more people and save more lives.”

The eight additional locations of Harm Reduction Vending Machines:

• 4th Dimension Sobriety – 500 E. Center Street
• Benedict Center (Sisters Program) – 209 W. Orchard Street
• Clement J Zablocki VA Medical Center – 5000 W. National Avenue
• Forest Home Health Center – 1316 Forest Home Avenue
• Kuscuiszko Sport & Community Center – 2201 S. 7th Street
• Rogers Behavioral Health: West Allis Campus – 1101 W. Lincoln Avenue.
• Vin Baker Recovery– 4757 N. 76th Street
• Wisconsin Community Services, Inc. – 3732 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 200

 

A map of all 19 vending machine locations, additional harm reduction resources and data, and education on how use the supplies is available at HarmReductionMKE.org.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.