MILWAUKEE — Vending machines are commonplace in your office or gym to conveniently dispense food, drinks, and snacks. Milwaukee County just unveiled its plans to utilize the machines to offer items that can prevent or reverse drug overdoses.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley signed a bill Monday to dedicate $11 million in opioid settlement funds to launch an initiative to address the opioid crisis in the county. Part of those funds was used to purchase several "harm reduction vending machines."
"Everything in this vending machine is free to the public,” said Milwaukee County Behavior Health Division’s Prevention Manager Jeremy Triblett.
Fentanyl test strips, Narcan nasal spray, and medication lock boxes are all items currently handed out by several local organizations. Triblett says the county is taking a proactive approach to make them available at the click of a button.
"This is not a trophy item, this is a container to help save lives,” he said.
The first harm reduction vending machine is already in place at the Marcia Coggs Human Services Building. Triblett says several others will be installed at local churches, public libraries, and restaurants.
"The idea is, what if we can put this in places you're already going to, that decreases the likelihood that you'll feel stigmatized, it decreases the likelihood you'll potentially feel uncomfortable," he said.
Triblett says the investment comes at a time when the need has never been greater.
The latest data from the medical examiner’s office shows fentanyl-related overdoses claimed the lives of 462 people in Milwaukee County last year alone. That’s more than homicides, suicides, and car crashes combined.
"Every 16 hours somebody is dying of an opioid overdose and it trickles to all the people around them,” said Milwaukee County Chief Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ben Weston.
Dr. Weston says a horse tranquilizer called Xylazine is creeping into the illegal drug supply, making the fentanyl crisis even more dangerous.
"The reason it's added is because it seems to prolong the effect,” he said.
Medical examiner data shows 48 people fatally overdosed on the combination of fentanyl and Xylazine in 2022, an increase from four in 2020, and one in 2019.
"The other problem with Xylazine is this nasal spray,” Dr. Weston said. “The Naloxone nasal spray is great for overdoses. It does nothing for Xylazine."
While Triblett acknowledges items in the harm reduction vending machines cannot detect or reverse overdoses caused by Xylazine, he says the items are effective on the county’s most prevalent deadly drug which is fentanyl alone.
"That is what creates the urgency for us to ensure we increase the access for people and empower them to use supplies so that one day we'll have more people that said reversed overdoses than people that said we lost someone because of them,” he said.
Triblett says at least one harm reduction vending machine will be installed in each of the county’s 19 municipalities.
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