BENNINGTON — One of the largest food pantries in southern Vermont will soon host a vending machine to dispense free opioid overdose medication.
The naloxone vending machine — only the second in the state — is scheduled to arrive in Bennington sometime in June through the local Turning Point addiction recovery center. The machine will be placed right outside the front door of Greater Bennington Community Services, said Bennington Turning Point Center’s executive director, Margae Diamond.
The vending machine is designed to hold up to 180 boxes of two Narcan nasal sprays, a tool that Vermont health officials see as crucial to combatting the rising number of opioid overdose deaths. The medication is designed to revive people who overdose on opioids, including fentanyl, heroin and prescription painkillers.
According to the latest available data from the state Department of Health, between January and November last year, 212 Vermonters died from an accidental opioid overdose, including 19 people from Bennington County. The statewide figure is up from 205 fatalities during the same period last year.
“It’s a health issue, and it can be overcome,” Diamond said. “No one can get better if they’re dead.”
Diamond said the Greater Bennington Community Services building, situated a couple of blocks off Main Street, is ideal for the naloxone vending machine because of its central location and the volume of people who come through its doors. Besides housing a food pantry, the organization also has a free health clinic and an emergency funding program for shelter and utility expenses.
The custom-made machine, which costs around $11,000 and will be under round-the-clock surveillance, is funded by a grant from the University of Vermont Center on Rural Addiction. The center is providing the Narcan supplies for the vending machine’s first year of operation, Diamond said, after which they will come from the Department of Health.
The center, which receives funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is distributing five naloxone vending machines in an area that covers Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and northern New York.
The program’s initial recipient, Vermont’s Johnson Health Center, received its machine last August. Since then, it has dispensed 258 boxes of Narcan, equivalent to 518 nasal sprays, said Geoff Butler, executive director of the Johnson Health Center.
The UVM Center on Rural Addiction said another machine will go to the Mi’kmaq Nation, a Native American tribe, which will place it in Presque Isle, Maine. The two other recipients are still being chosen, said Kelly Peck, assistant director of clinical operations at the Center on Rural Addiction.
Diamond expects some local opposition to setting up a naloxone vending machine in Bennington, largely on social media platforms.
“Some people think this is enabling people,” she said. “Well, if you view this as a public health crisis, then you want to make tools available for people. Period.”
“Every time we lose someone, it ripples through, and there is damage — emotional, traumatic damage to the people left behind. So no, it doesn’t solve anything for people to just die,” Diamond said.
The Department of Health plans to also distribute naloxone vending machines statewide. But according to spokesperson Ben Truman, the agency is still gathering information on cost estimates and developing a roll-out timeline.
In the meantime, people can continue getting free naloxone from community sites around the state, such as substance use recovery centers and emergency response groups. More information on naloxone sources, as well as overdose prevention, treatment and recovery, is available on vthelplink.org.
A Vermont health department standing order allows people in the state to get naloxone through pharmacists without a prescription.
Some places in the United States began installing naloxone vending machines in 2022, including Philadelphia, which ran a pilot program funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Correction: A previous version of this story mischaracterized security arrangements for the Johnson Health Center’s Narcan vending machine.
