NYC Health Dept. vending machine offers free Narcan, drug-test stripsBy Jack Morphet and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
June 5, 2023
Big Apple health officials unveiled a new street vending machine Monday that swaps out candy bars and potato chips for free doses of Narcan and drug-testing strips.
Designed to combat the surge in overdoses in the five boroughs, the new machine in Brownsville, Brooklyn, is the first of four set to pop up in some of the city’s most drug-infested neighborhoods in the coming months, officials said.
“Every three hours, we’re losing a New Yorker [to drugs]. And it looks like 2022 is on track to be our highest year ever in overdoses,” Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said at a press conference next to the machine, which is parked outside a nonprofit aimed at offering housing and other support for those in need.
“We have a rising tide of fentanyl, and now we have other substances entering our drug supply, which is really putting us behind the eight ball,” Vasan said.
He specifically noted the increasing presence of Xylazine, a veterinary drug known as “Tranq” or the “zombie drug” that can leave users in a catatonic state and with conditions that eat their flesh off.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/06/05/nyc-vending-machine-offers-free-narcan-drug-test-strips/