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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Chris McGreal

Vending machines with lifesaving drug grow as opioid crisis rages in US

A vending machine at Michigan’s Wayne State University dispenses free packets of Narcan (naloxone), which can prevent death from a drug overdose.
A vending machine at Michigan’s Wayne State University dispenses free packets of Narcan (naloxone), which can prevent death from a drug overdose. Photograph: Jim West/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

The police chief of the small Kentucky city of Vine Grove knew from heart-rending experience why he needed a vending machine outside his office.

Kenneth Mattingly’s daughter was twice brought to the brink of death by heroin and twice pulled back by paramedics carrying an antidote, naloxone. Then Mattingly responded to an opioid overdose call early last year at which a woman saved a friend’s life because she was carrying a naloxone spray, often known by its brand name Narcan.

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