{"id":25069,"date":"2025-07-27T03:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T03:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/25069\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T03:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T03:30:11","slug":"vending-machine-fills-need-for-naloxone-distribution-austin-daily-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/25069\/","title":{"rendered":"Vending machine fills need for naloxone distribution – Austin Daily Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vending machine fills need for naloxone distribution<\/p>\n

Published 8:00 am Saturday, July 26, 2025<\/p>\n

\n 1 of 4 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Members of the Opioid Advisory Committee are photographed with the new vending machine Narcan outside of the Government Building.
\nEric Johnson\/photodesk@austindailyherald.com<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Narcan available through the vending machine at the Government Center is a nasal spray, making use a simpler process.
\nEric Johnson\/photodesk@austindailyherald.com<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Narcan vending machine is located outside of the Government Center in Austin, available to people at any time of day. Eric Johnson\/photodesk@austindailyherald.com<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Narcan available in the vending machine is stocked by Recovery is Happening here in Austin and funded by the Opioid Advisory Committee. Eric Johnson\/photodesk@austindailyherald.com<\/p>\n

Using opioid settlement funds, the Opioid Advisory Committee and Recovery is Happening have established one of Minnesota\u2019s only vending machines dedicated to naloxone distribution.<\/p>\n

Stocked with the commercial brand Narcan, the vending machine has been set up outside of the Government Center with the goal of ensuring that opioid users have easy access to a medication that can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid-initiated overdose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted Narcan easily accessible,\u201d said Recovery is Happening Peer Support Specialist and Opioid Advisory Committee member Brandon Moseng. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for somebody to walk into a store and ask, \u2018hey, can I get some Narcan?\u2019 A lot of it has to be prescription and a lot of the people I talked to don\u2019t know where to go or how to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee itself was formed in the aftermath of opioid lawsuit settlements and is tasked with handing out grant dollars for projects like this that go toward efforts of battling opioid addiction.<\/p>\n

Mower\u2019s committee is made up of men and women from a variety of backgrounds including recovery groups, Health and Human Services and law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Over the next 18 years, the county is earmarked to receive $2.1 million dollars from two different settlements.<\/p>\n

Grant money from this well was used in the establishment of the vending machine that is stocked with both Narcan and fentanyl test strips and is free and open to any who are currently using or have family members who are using. The Narcan itself is a nasal spray.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say we\u2019re pretty cutting edge and we have the support of our sheriff and administration. The county attorney was also very supportive of this project,\u201d said Mower County Health and Human Services Division Manager Pam Kellogg-Marmosler. \u201cFor one thing there is zero risk so if you find a friend or family member and administer it, and they are not overdosing on an opioid, there is no harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The machine was dropped off on Friday, July 18 and placed outside of the building on Monday. It was stocked for the first time on Wednesday and by Thursday some boxes were already gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already being talked about,\u201d Moseng said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen posts about it on Facebook and there wasn\u2019t even Narcan in it yet. I\u2019ve already seen people sharing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who are on the committee are aware, however, that there will be some who are against placing the vending machine, seeing it more as an enabling drug use rather than a way to keep somebody alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it probably will be controversial,\u201d Kellogg-Marmosler said. \u201cWe\u2019re not promoting drugs. We would preferably have you contact Recovery is Happening and get some help. If they are not at that point we can save their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moseng agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw this thing the other day that\u2019s kind of stuck in my head,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t get clean if you\u2019re not alive. That\u2019s the thing with the vending machine. There are some people who have overdosed once and they changed their life after that. There are other people who have gone five, six, seven times being saved and they haven\u2019t come around to it. I would rather keep somebody safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vending machine isn\u2019t just a place to get Narcan, however. There are plans to get some kind of wrap for the machine or magnets that provide contact information for Recovery is Happening so people know they have a place to go if they feel they are ready to get clean. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been talk about placing cards within the machine and the Narcan itself so people have a way of reaching out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s breaking the stigma so people know there is access to this or that. That there are people out there who care,\u201d Moseng said. \u201cThe vending machine is a very small part. They see that there is somebody out there for harm reduction, helping them. Maybe it drives them to walk in the door and say, \u2018I need help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Recovery is Happening, the group that requested funds from the committee is in charge of stocking the machine and is also an access point at its downtown location.<\/p>\n

The goal with the machine is the same as the group\u2019s goal \u2014 keeping people alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t judge you. We don\u2019t ask you any questions,\u201d Moseng said. \u201cThe vending machine will be a success.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the committee itself, Kellogg-Marmosler hopes that the vending machine can also kick-start more requests for funding. Since the committee\u2019s inception around three years ago, she said that requests for proposals have been sluggish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually been a little slow,\u201d Kellogg-Marmosler said. \u201cWe want to see more of these projects get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anybody wanting to submit requests can contact Kellogg-Marmosler by emailing: pamkn@co.mower.mn.us.<\/p>\n

For more on Recovery is Happening, visit: https:\/\/recoveryishappening.org\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vending machine fills need for naloxone distribution Published 8:00 am Saturday, July 26, 2025 1 of 4 Members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-25069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}