Vending machines with free Narcan and fentanyl test strips supplied by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health are being taken down, effective immediately. A press release sent by the Department this morning says all machines are expected to be removed by the end of the month.
The vending machines were set up by the Department a year ago, in May 2023 (ODMHSAS Unveils Harm Reduction Campaign With Life-Saving Vending Machines). The machines were placed along turnpikes, in casinos, at libraries and in other high-traffic areas across Oklahoma.
Now, all of those machines will be taken down.
Along with financial considerations, the Department cited issues like stock shortages, machine malfunctions and logistical difficulties as reasons for its decision.
“An initiative that was originally launched as a pilot program under previous leadership has been thoroughly evaluated over time,” Commissioner Allie Friesen said in the release. “After reviewing the financial implications, data, and overall outcomes, it has become evident that the program has not proven to be cost-effective, nor has it consistently delivered the positive results we had hoped for.”
The Department said it will replace the vending machines with marketing posters featuring QR codes that “direct individuals to access points and provide information on receiving products by mail.”
It also said it will continue to provide overdose education and naloxone distribution services across the state through existing community partnerships.
Friesen said both resources will continue to be available statewide to Oklahomans free of charge and more money can be invested in agency initiatives and treatment.
Board President of SHRED the Stigma Alex McGowan Rayburn says she is “saddened by the phasing out of this innovative approach to distributing Naloxone and fentanyl test kits, especially the added anonymity of vending machines.”
SHRED the Stigma is a nonprofit that delivers free harm reduction supplies anonymously in OKC.
She said she “remains hopeful” and the change is “not a failure of harm reduction but a reminder that mutual aid is the most effective way to reach our neighbors.”
Still, recent evidence suggests vending machines with supplies to reverse opioid overdose do positively affect public health. According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the implementation of naloxone dispensation at harm reduction vending machines in Clark County, Nevada was associated with a 15% reduction in overdose fatalities in the first year. In contrast to a statewide 5% increase in fatal opioid overdoses, in Hamilton County, Ohio, fatal overdoses decreased by 10% in the first year following the introduction of vending machines stocked with naloxone.
