University Unveils Free Narcan Vending Machine

The future is now: vending machines in 2023 will sell cannabis. Beerart, cupcakes, and now the life-saving drug Narkan, we plunge into a world of automation.

Santa Clara University (SCU) in California announced that it has installed free vending machines on its campus that sell canisters of the opioid overdose drug Narcan.

“Naloxone is a miracle drug that can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes,” says Jamie Chung, assistant professor of public health at Santa Clara University. Said NBC Bay Area. “Not offering this seemed like a real violation of many principles of public health.”

One of the goals is to avoid the stigma surrounding opioid overdoses and instead view Narcan as a life-saving immediate solution. In fact, people are dying because their friends are afraid to call 911, or because they don’t know the Good Samaritan laws that protect those who try to save their lives from overdoses. However, students must have a Narkan on hand to act quickly in most situations.

“Our goal is to get naloxone into the community, because the more naloxone people have, the more chances they have of saving lives,” said student Isabella Bankers.

This vending machine concept will probably be implemented at a university near you. mercury news report Stanford University plans to introduce it in the coming weeks. “Since SCU is a party school, we know that drug use occurs on campus, off campus, or near campus,” said Setare Tehrani, who helped launch the project.

The idea was inspired by the death of former SCU student Charlie Ternan, who died of fentanyl poisoning while his friends thought he was asleep at an off-campus fraternity in 2020.

This arrives as 1 in 5 young people die Fentanyl and opioids are believed to be the cause in California, according to preliminary data from the California Department of Vital Statistics. Fentanyl will kill a record 5,722 Californians in 2021. Estimate 4,258 people died in car crashes in the state, more than double the 2,548 deaths in homicides.

You don’t even have to look for fentanyl to overdose on fentanyl. Two Ohio State University students died of a fentanyl overdose, according to a May 5 announcement by the Columbus Police Department, officials said. Fentanyl disguised as Adderall.

Narkan costs up to $150 without insurance, which most students cannot afford. This is one of the main purposes of the project. Additionally, if someone is overdosing on an opioid, fumbling with payment options may take too long to save a life.

“First of all, it’s free and in a location that is widely accessible to students,” said Chan, who helped launch the on-campus vending machine. “[But]whether they take naloxone or not, we hope at least send the message that they need to take this seriously and that there are tools for them. .”

Under California Senate Bill 367, public universities and schools in California are need Provides access to Narcan on campus. Some high schools across the state have taken the lead in offering Narkan to their students.

Santa Clara County is considering installing similar vending machines on high school campuses.

“People are more aware of fentanyl. We’ve been talking about this everywhere, from Greek life to club sports to national team sports,” says Olivia, a fourth-year public health student. Pruett said. But Narkan said, “It only works if people have it when they need it. This conversation must go on.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Minnesota are seeking to pass a bill that would require schools in the state to stock Narcan, a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses in the event of an emergency.