LOUISVILLE, Ky. — New efforts are underway to prevent tragic and unnecessary overdose deaths in Kentucky.
A newly unveiled Narcan vending machine openly sits in Hardin County, at the Vine Grove Police Department, which worked alongside Communicare Mental Health and the Lincoln Trail District Health Department to bring the machine to people.
Officials said it's the first of it's kind in the state, which, for years, has been battling a brutal epidemic of opioid-use -- one that's only gotten worse.
The Narcan vending machine is no-cost, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Each time someone orders one from the machine, they're provided two, four milligram doses of Narcan, along with an information pamphlet coming from the County Health Department.
Vine Grove Police Chief Kenneth Mattingly said it was born out of a 911 call at the start of the year, when a woman told dispatch her friend was experiencing an overdose.
"We don't really know what he took, but he overdosed," Mattingly said. [The friend] was able to Narcan him and save him until we got there and gave him another dose. He's alive today because of that dose."
Fentanyl is a deadly synthetic opioid that has become a growing problem, not just in Louisville, but in cities across the U.S.
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morpheme.
The Overdose Fatality Report released by Kentucky's Office of Drug Control Policy indicates that 2,250 Kentuckians died from drug overdoses in 2021, a 14.5% increase compared to the year prior. This total includes the deaths of 46 Hardin County residents.
Mattingly said law enforcement wants people to know the machine is open to anyone to use.
"I don't just want addicts or people that are in crisis to come and get this," he said. "I want people to take some home, put it in their kitchen cabinet, put it in their bathroom, have it available to them should they need it."
Mattingly said he understands some may be hesitant to access the machine, located out in front of the police department, but promises the Narcan kits come with no consequences.
"The internal opposition was being the police and trying to facilitate helping out people that are in crisis," he said. "But that's our job. That's what we're supposed to do. I have to overlook the stigma of it and what it's associated with and go with the benefit of trying to help people."
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