SANDOVAL COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – It looks like a typical vending machine, but you probably haven’t seen one like this. Sandoval County is partnering with a local nonprofit with the goal of improving public safety.
It’s a vending machine, but instead of the typical snacks inside, there are health and safety products like Narcan, a medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. The machine also offers free gun locks. New Mexico Women in Leadership, New Mexico non-profit behind the unique machine at the Sandoval County Health Commons in Bernalillo. “We want to break the stigma. We want to treat, you know, addiction as a disease and quit treating it as a crime,” said Stacy Burleson, Executive Director, Women in Leadership, New Mexico, Inc.
While many health clinics and hospitals provide free Narcan, the vending machine’s purpose is to provide more anonymity and make it easily accessible. Women in Leadership said the gun locks are a unique addition to prevent gun accidents. “We got a lot of youth that are out here committing crime with these guns, and so we know that it is drug-related as well. So we feel like, you know, if we can combine them, that we could, you know, make things more safer,” said Burleson…