Tippecanoe County receives Narcan vending machine

Surgeon General urges Americans to carry narcan

Drew Angerer

<p>WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 25: Dr. Nora Volkow, director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), holds up a narcan nasal spray (naloxone) during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing concerning federal efforts to combat the opioid crisis, October 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Lawmakers on the committee threatened to subpoena information from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regarding their delayed responses about drug distributors that poured in millions of pain pills into West Virginia. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)</p>

By: Michelle Kaufman

TIPPECANOE COUNTY — 43 Narcan kits have been dispensed in the Tippecanoe County community through a vending machine.

The Tippecanoe County Corrections Center is the first community corrections center in Indiana to receive a Naloxone vending machine. Naloxone, or Narcan, is a medication approved to reverse an overdose from opioids and is given when a person is showing signs of opioid overdose.

Each kit includes a single dose of naloxone, instructions for use and a referral to treatment for substance use disorder. The machine holds up to 300 naloxone kits and is free to access.

Machines are also located in public areas of the St. Joseph, Wayne, and Dubois County jails. The St. Joseph County Jail was the first to receive the machine in December 2021.

Officials say a total of 19 vending machines will be placed across the state.