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Minneapolis is testing a new strategy to combat the opioid crisis: a Narcan vending machine. 

Mayor Jacob Frey and city staff unveiled the new machine in south Minneapolis at Fire Station 21 Wednesday. It’s designed like a regular vending machine, but it's stocked with a hundred boxes of naloxone, an opioid anti-overdose medication. 

“This will help keep families together,” Frey said. “This will help prevent someone from dying, and this will ultimately help someone to live a brilliant life to get the care that they need.”

The boxes are free. Each comes with two doses of Narcan.

It’s part of a response to high overdose rates in Minneapolis, particularly near the fire station. The area has some of the highest overdose rates in the city, with 74 suspected overdoses in so far this year and four overdose deaths, according to city officials. 

Director of the Minneapolis Health Department Damōn Chaplin said he hopes neighbors will pick up a box or two in case of emergencies. 

“It’s as simple as pushing a button to get the box out of the machine,” Chaplin said. “There is no judgment and no stigma. We want people to be able to get a box when needed, and in cases of emergencies.” 

Christopher Burks is a nearby resident and program director at the Twin Cities Recovery Project. He joined city staff to unveil the vending machine. Burks is in long-term addiction recovery — something he said is only possible because Narcan saved his life after several overdoses. 

After one overdose in 2016, Burks said, no one called the paramedics; instead, he was saved because he’d had a dose of Narcan in his room, and a friend administered it quickly. 

He’s excited for a solution that offers resources without looking to punish people for drug use.

“We have to remember that addiction is a brain disease, and we need to start treating this like it’s a brain disease,” Burks said. “We have to stop criminalizing the people who have been affected by these opioids.”

Having it on hand can make a big difference: in order for it to be effective, Narcan should be administered within five or six minutes, Minneapolis Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said. Sometimes paramedics can’t get there in time, so it makes a difference when community members carry it.

Staff will restock the vending machine periodically. If the pilot project goes well, Frey says the city will consider adding machines in more locations.

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Estelle Timar-Wilcox

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Minneapolis opened its first Narcan vending machine in south Minneapolis Wednesday. It dispenses free anti-overdose medication, and city officials hope it will help bring down overdose rates in the neighborhood. 

Minneapolis launches first Narcan vending machine

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