New Jersey Clinic's Vending Machine Saves Lives

New Jersey Clinic’s Vending Machine Saves Lives

A New Jersey clinic is reshaping how communities approach drug use through an unconventional, life-saving initiative. By installing a free vending machine stocked with harm reduction supplies, it’s offering immediate access to tools that reduce health risks and overdose deaths. This effort is part of a growing movement across the state to support public health through compassionate, evidence based solutions.

Harm Reduction Tools Reach Streets in Unconventional Way

One Asbury Park health clinic is making safer drug use in New Jersey a reality. In doing so they’re saving lives. They’ve placed a vending machine outside their office so individuals can get free supplies for safer drug use and resources to treat side effects.

The vending machine dispensed 154 kits and 650 syringes for using crack cocaine within its first two weeks. It also gave out multiple wound care kits along with boxes of Narcan—a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses.

These vending machines are operated by the Prevention Resource Network. Cole Zaccaro is the company’s manager of harm reduction services. He says that residents of The Garden State are coping with difficult times in ways that allow them to function in their daily lives. In some cases this can involve drug use.

The vending machines are meant to help lower the risk of illnesses such as Hepatitis C and HIV as well as prevent overdoses. New Jersey saw a decline in overdose deaths for the first time in a decade after their implementation. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and his administration hope to continue this trend by adding more harm reduction centers throughout the state.

Chad Harlan is a case manager for Prevention Resource Network. He started using drugs in his teens and became addicted to opioids in his 20s. He eventually contracted Hepatitis C which can sometimes be caused by sharing needles. Harlan is now cured of the disease and believes in the effectiveness of these vending machines.

The purpose behind harm reduction isn’t to promote drug use, says Harlan. The vending machines can help keep folks alive so they can eventually find healthier routes.

Drug use statistics show that New Jersey has one of the lowest rates of drug use but state officials want to continue to do more to reduce their numbers. In addition to implementing harm reduction centers, New Jersey lawmakers are introducing bills to raise awareness about the dangers of opioids. State Senators Vin Gopal and Holly Schepisi recently proposed legislation to require school districts to educate students about the threat of fentanyl.