The University of North Texas is the first public college in Texas to get a free naloxone vending machine, and Regan Browne, director of the Recovery and Intervention Support and Education Center — called RISE — considers it a win.
Browne is new to the director’s chair at RISE, and she was among locals who attended the unveiling of a naloxone vending machine at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, a storied Denton music venue, in June. A teen survived an overdose there in April because a quick-thinking patron knew the signs and administered naloxone, the generic form of the brand-name drug Narcan. Naloxone is a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of opioids, even a potentially lethal dose.
“I wanted to show support,” Browne said, thinking back to the event at Rubber Gloves, which brought the free vending machine to the venue through a partnership with the local nonprofit Reacting to Opioid Overdose, UT Health San Antonio and Be Well Texas, which oversees the statewide initiative Naloxone Texas…