The Turning Point of Addison County unveiled a free, round-the-clock vending machine dispensing opioid overdose mediation and other health care supplies on Tuesday in Middlebury.
Middlebury joins the towns of Johnson and Bennington in Vermont that have vending machines providing free naloxone, more commonly known by the brand name Narcan.
Another vending machine will be rolled out in Bristol this summer to help fill gaps in health access in the region’s rural communities, said Danielle Wallace, executive director of the Turning Point Center of Addison County. Turning Point is a nonprofit organization with 12 satellite locations around the state that focuses on helping people through addiction recovery.
The dispensers will also provide fentanyl and xylazine test strips, educational harm reduction kits, first aid kits and hygiene supplies such as socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunscreen, bug spray and hand sanitizer, Wallace said.
The two vending machines in Middlebury and Bristol, both in Addison County, are funded through a $100,000 grant from the Vermont Department of Health.
The Turning Point Center determined which supplies to offer after assessing the highest needs of the community and will continue to rotate supplies as needs change, Stephanie Busch, injury prevention program director at the Vermont Health Department, said in a statement to VTDigger. An external disposal container for sharp items is available alongside the vending machine, she said.
“Placement of these vending machines ensures more flexible and responsive access to supplies and treatment services information to better serve the whole community,” Busch said.
While people struggle with addiction across the state, Wallace said resources are often sent to Vermont’s more densely populated areas.
“In rural communities, resources are always lacking,” she said.
The vending machines will complement the Turning Point of Addison County’s other addiction recovery related-work, such as the recovery coaching program and a street outreach program, which primarily serves the region’s unhoused population, Wallace said.
Overall opioid-related deaths fell in the state in 2024, but xylazine-related deaths rose 10%, from 32% in 2023 to 42% in 2024, according to a Vermont Department of Health report. Efforts to offer free and readily available overdose prevention resources are important to continue to reduce drug-related deaths, save lives and help people on the path to addiction recovery, Wallace said.
“I think that education, advocacy and access to resources is a huge piece of what’s driving this reduction in overdose deaths,” Wallace said. “This is our effort and strategy to continue that reduction and to continue seeing less people losing their lives from substance use.”
