New York City will install public health vending machines in 10 locations across the city to combat the opioid crisis, The Hill reported Jan. 3.
Four things to know:
- The vending machines will dispense the overdose reversal drug naloxone, sterile syringes and other health supplies.
- The initiative is projected to cost taxpayers $730,000.
- In 2020, New York City's public health department reported 2,062 deaths resulting from unintentional overdoses, the highest reported overdose total since the department began collecting such data in 2000.
- In November, New York became the first U.S. city to open supervised injection sites, another effort to reduce overdose deaths caused by increasingly potent illegal drugs.