Politics

NYC Unveils Vending Machines Stocked With Crack Pipes, Safe Sex Kits: REPORT

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Laurel Duggan Social Issues and Culture Reporter
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The New York City Health Department unveiled a “public health vending machine” Monday which aims to reduce drug overdoses and the spread of diseases by distributing safe sex kits, Narcan and drug paraphernalia, according to the New York Post.

The machine will dispense supplies 24/7 at no cost from its Brooklyn location near a supportive housing facility, according to a press release. The machines dispense “Safer Smoking” kits which include a pipe that can be used to smoke crack cocaine or crystal meth along with a mouthpiece and lip balm, as well as “Safer Sniffing’’ kits, according to The New York Post.

The kits also include treatments of drug overdoses like naloxone.

“We are in the midst of an overdose crisis in our city, which is taking a fellow New Yorker from us every three hours and is a major cause of falling life expectancy in NYC,” Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said in a press release. “But we will continue to fight to keep our neighbors and loved ones alive with care, compassion and action. Public health vending machines are an innovative way to meet people where they are and to put life-saving tools like naloxone in their hands. We’ll leave no stone unturned until we reverse the trends in opioid-related deaths in our city.”

The distribution of free Narcan, a drug used to treat narcotic overdoses, is part of the city’s plan to reduce overdose deaths by 15% by 2025; 2,668 people in New York City died of overdoses in 2021, with most of these deaths linked to fentanyl.

The NYC Health Department did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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