More Narcan vending machines are popping up to help curb overdose deaths

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. (WBAL) – A health department in Maryland has unveiled new vending machines that dispense free Narcan, a life-saving drug.

The effort comes as the fight against drug misuse grows more dire, given the dangers of fentanyl.

The Anne Arundel County Department of Health is getting Narcan in the hands of as many people as possible with vending machines called Health-To-Go machines.

Health officials have installed seven of them throughout the county. Data from local police and fire departments was used to determine where to put the machines.

Each one is stocked with Narcan, the life-saving drug that quickly blocks the effects of opioids on the brain, allowing a person suffering breathing problems because of an overdose to be revived.

Sam Libbon, an overdose survivor, said she knows just how important that is.

“I came nose-to-nose with my own death, and my life was given back to me by somebody who cared enough and thought life was valuable enough to administer Narcan to a complete stranger, and I’m forever grateful for that,” Libbon said.

The county says the Health-To-Go vending machines help bypass the stigma or embarrassment of reaching out for help.

“This is an initiative that I wholeheartedly believe in because at the end of the day, without something life-saving like Narcan available to us when people are overdosing, none of the other ‘get-to’s’ that I’ve gotten in the last eight years ever come to exist,” Libbon said.

There are also other free lifesaving tools offered by the machines, including fentanyl and xylazine test strips, face masks and COVID-19 tests.

A report from CNN last month found that at least 33 states and Washington, D.C. have Narcan vending machines.