Shasta County supervisors narrowly approved using opioid settlement funds to install six naloxone vending machines that will dispense the overdose-reversing medication for free.
The machines will be placed in areas with higher overdose rates and at sites where people can get help for opioid abuse, like the Shasta Community Health Center and the Good News Rescue Mission.
Shauna Stratton, with Shasta County Public Health, said the machines will have tablets that will allow the county to collect data on use and impact.
“If we want to compare different regions of Shasta County and say, ‘Okay, we put a machine up in Shingletown, and that reduced the rates of overdose. And then we didn't put one in Igo and Ono, and it didn't reduce the rates of overdose.’ We can do some comparisons," she said.
Stratton said that 24 other counties in California are rolling out similar naloxone vending machines. The project has support from the Redding Rancheria, the county's public health director and the sheriff. The Shasta Substance Use Coalition will oversee and restock the machines.
The board voted to pay for the project with about $160,000 from the opioid settlement fund. Stratton said the funding with cover three years of operation. The county has also received a $10,000 grant for a media campaign tied to the project.
Board Chair Kevin Crye cast the lone vote against the plan, saying he's concerned about the machines being unsupervised.
“I'm not opposed to even handing out Narcan," Cryesaid. "I'm opposed to having high schoolers, junior-highers be able to run up and have access to this stuff on their own.”
Stratton noted that most of them will be indoors and all will be monitored.
