Narcan vending machines provide another way to fight the opioid overdose crisis

Four new vending machines installed around McHenry County aren’t offering cans of soda or bags of chips, but free Narcan and fentanyl test strips – the latest effort by the McHenry County Department of Health to address the ongoing opioid crisis.

The four Narcan vending machines are located in the cafeteria at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, the Other Side Cafe & Sober Bar in Crystal Lake, Community Health Partnership in Harvard and the Youth and Family Center of McHenry County in McHenry.

“These strategic locations were chosen to maximize accessibility to the community and provide assistance when and where it is needed most,” according to a news release by the McHenry County health department.

Narcan, also known by its generic name naloxone, is a medication that can reverse opioid-causing overdoses. It works by blocking the effects of opioids and restoring normal breathing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s considered 50 times to 100 times more potent than morphine, the health department said. The emergence of the highly addictive fentanyl being mixed with heroin and other drugs has fueled the growing crisis of opioid-related overdoses in recent years.

Fentanyl is highly lethal and continues to be found in various illicit drugs in the county, including counterfeit pills, even those sold as ‘legitimate prescription medication’ obtained unlawfully.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’ve already restocked the machines,” health department Community Information Coordinator Nick Kubiak said in an email.

The four vending machines cost about $5,000 each, Kubiak said. The Local Health Department Opioid Surveillance and Response program funded the project through a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Overdose Data to Action.

You could be walking down the street and you could save a life.”

—  Chris Jacob, Other Side Cafe & Sober Bar general manager

The Other Side Cafe & Sober Bar General Manager Chris Jacob said he was looking to get a Narcan vending machine for their location when the McHenry County health department reached out with the offer to provide one themselves.

“The timing was perfect,” he said.

The Other Side vending machine went through more than a dozen fentanyl test strips and about 40 boxes of Narcan at their recent Zero Fest event, Jacob said. Usually one box of Narcan holds two doses inside.

Zero Fest was the Other Side’s and New Directions Addiction Recovery Services’ first event of that size, which was a sober celebration with music, food and vendors. More than 1,000 people attended the event, New Directions Executive Director Bobby Gattone said.

Although community feedback has been positive, Gattone said there are critics that see providing free Narcan as enabling addiction.

“It’s realizing if we help people stay alive to even make it to recovery,” he said, “that’s the bridge we’re trying to make.”

Jacob said he personally knows many people who have decided to get sober after being rescued by Narcan, as sort of a wake-up call. He also hopes that the increased availability will encourage everyone to carry the life-saving medication.

“You could be walking down the street and you could save a life,” Jacob said. “It’s not just for people who are actively using [drugs].”

New Directions’ next steps are to create an affordable sober living apartment building in Woodstock, made possible through funding from grants. Gattone hopes the organization will have a building by the end of next year.

Many other recovery nonprofits in McHenry County benefited from funding after the county received $3.41 million of the nationwide negotiated opioid settlement from a 2017 lawsuit filed against large opioid manufacturers.

The vending machines are one new tool in this fight, as opioid-related overdose deaths consistently continue in the county.

McHenry County has reported 23 overdose deaths this year as of July, according to the McHenry County Coroner’s Office. Of those, 12 were from opioids and all included fentanyl as the cause of death.

The highest numbers of opioid-related overdose deaths are from 2020, with 47 deaths and 34 involving fentanyl, according to coroner’s office data. In 2019, the county reported 32 opioid overdose deaths in 2019, with 26 involving fentanyl.

Narcan nasal spray was approved by the FDA earlier this year to be sold over-the-counter at drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, gas stations and online. Walgreens and CVS announced that the nasal spray arrived in their stores last month.

Narcan and fentanyl test strips also are available for free at the McHenry County health department locations in Crystal Lake and Woodstock, The Break Crystal Lake Teen Center and Warp Corps in Woodstock. Live4Lali also provides delivery of the supplies.

Gattone and Jacob see the vending machines as a way to increase awareness of the opioid crisis. They see that the increased awareness also pushes against negative stereotypes that can further hurt people experiencing substance use disorders.

“There’s a lot of shame, guilt and stigma that surrounds addiction,” Gattone said. “A lot of people don’t realize how much that contributes to an overdose.”