Narcan vending machines coming to Richmond (2024)

Correction: A previous version of this story said the vending machines would dispense Narcan for $35 and fentanyl test strips for $1. A city spokesperson, who did not return our initial request for comment prior to publication, clarified that residents will not be paying for products from the machines.

Richmond has been awarded nearly $148,000 for three vending machines that will be stocked with the opioid antidote Narcan and test strips.

“These vending machines will help people who are not connected to harm reduction services or who are likely to witness or experience an opioid overdose and to reduce stigma by integrating harm reduction into public spaces,” reads a proposal submitted by city grant specialist Dominic Barrett.

Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of opioids on the brain, will be bought by the city for $35 a dose and and test strip kits for $1 each. They will be dispensed free of charge, according to city spokesperson Petula Burks, who responded to questions regarding the vending machines on Thursday.

Similar “harm-reduction” vending machines have been installed in New York City, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and other communities. The machines were put into place in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, in 2017. The county that year saw a 15% reduction in overdose fatalities, according to research from the Annals of Medicine published in 2022.

It’s not yet clear where the Richmond machines will be located. The city said it would rely on overdose surveillance data to find areas where the machines will have maximized access.

Funds come from painkiller settlement

The money for the four grants comes from the multi-billion dollar national opioid settlement agreed to by drugmakers responsible for selling and marketing addictive pain killing drugs like Oxycodone. One of those grants will help pay for the vending machines.

In 2023, opioid overdoses claimed the lives of 270 in Richmond, according to preliminary data for the year compiled by the Richmond Office of the Medical Examiner. That’s around the same level as in 2022, which set a record for the most overdoses in a year at 274 deaths.

The grants will also breathe life into three other initiatives that will touch Richmonders.

These include a website for mapping recovery resources, a campaign targeted at educating children, and the hiring of peer-specialists who have lived through addiction themselves but now are at a healthy stage in their own recovery.

According to the city’s proposal, the hiring of peer-specialists has been flagged as a top priority. The city plans to invest another $250,000 of its own money received directly from the opioid settlement, bringing funding for its peer-specialist training program up to $500,000.

The request for the funds was approved by the Opioid Abatement Authority, a state agency created by the Virginia legislature in 2021. The agency hears proposals from localities and regional partnerships, approving them on a case-by-case basis.

Since scaling up operations in 2023, the agency has distributed $56 million.

The monies are not being distributed in lump sums from the companies, who are contributing slices of their settlement debt to a national escrow fund that is then funneled to individual states. Those disbursem*nts are expected to continue through 2041.

Peer-recovery programs in Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties also received funding in this latest round.

Some of the largest allotments announced on Wednesday went to counties in rural southwest Virginia, which have disproportionately high rates of opioid overdose. The agency announced a $1.5 million transmission to Smyth County, where it will go towards capital expenses for the Appalachian Center for Hope, a residential drug treatment program.

And a $1.9 million investment was made by the authority into a similar capital expense aimed at treating addicts in Russell and Tazewell Counties.

“Virginia fought back against companies that were pushing their highly addictive drugs on vulnerable people, and now we are making sure those settlement funds are being used to save lives, support families, and restore communities,” he said.