New York City unveils new vending machines with drug pipes, Narcan, and 'safer sniffing' kits



New York City is finally unveiling its vending machines packed full of affordable drug paraphernalia.

Located on the corner of Decatur Street and Broadway in Brooklyn, residents in the Big Apple can now access safe-sex kits, naloxone — or Narcan, which is used to treat opioid drug overdoses — and a range of drug paraphernalia meant to make consuming drugs "more safe."

And it's all free. That's right, the big blue dispensers, which the city calls "public health vending machines," are funded New York City taxpayers to the tune of $11,000 per machine, the New York Post reported.

The machines are being placed in the city's most drug-ridden neighborhoods. Among the drug paraphernalia now freely available are "Safer Smoking" kits, which include a smoking pipe and mouthpiece — good for crack cocaine and crystal meth — and lip balm. Users can also get drug-test strips that detect fentanyl and "Safer Sniffing" kits.

Feminine hygiene products and first-aid kits can also be accessed. Users simply have to enter their zip code to get the items.

According to the New York Post, the first vending machine does not have syringes. But future vending machines could include them to make intravenous drug use "safer."

In a statement, City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said:

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. 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.

Right now, there are plans for only four vending machines. But Vasan said he hopes the city can get funding for more.

"We’re very optimistic that this could expand beyond four,” he said, the Gothamist reported.

"This is not a be-all, end-all in our fight; this is one more arrow in a quiver, and we need lots of arrows in that quiver to respond to this ever-growing crisis," he added. "So I'd love to see this expand as far and as widely as possible, so that it's available everywhere."

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Police arrest 2 suspects after 5 mall employees overdose on fentanyl-laced drugs and 1 dies

Police arrest 2 suspects after 5 mall employees overdose on fentanyl-laced drugs and 1 dies



Police have arrested two suspects in connection with the overdose death of a Cheesecake Factory employee, WPIX reported .

"She was a single mom. She did everything for her daughter. Her daughter meant everything to her. Her daughter was nine years old," one woman said of 29-year-old Michelle Edoo of Bergenfield, New Jersey.

Edoo worked at the Cheesecake Factory at The Shops at Riverside Mall. She died three days after she and four female colleagues ingested fentanyl-laced cocaine in the lower level parking lot of the upscale mall in Hackensack, New Jersey, the New York Post reported.

Bergen County Sheriff's Office officials say one suspect was charged with distribution of narcotics, and the other with possession with intent to sell, WPIX reported.

Shoppers found the woman unconscious in the parking garage, CBS News reported. First responders administered Narcan and performed CPR. Naloxone, also called Narcan, is a medicine used to reverse opioid overdoses. It is often administered in the form of a nasal spray.

All five women were revived via the emergency measures. Four were transported to the hospital. One woman refused transport. Edoo died 3 days later.

"You have to assume that any drug, whether powder, pill, or vegetation, that is bought on the street or that is shared on the street contains fentanyl and it can kill you," said Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella at a press conference.

Police said the woman may not have known the substance they took was laced with fentanyl. Dealers regularly cut more expensive drugs with cheaper fentanyl, the outlet also reported.

"A lot of the folks that are victims, they just don't know exactly what they're taking, and it may very well be illicit drugs or it may be something else. And even if it's the illicit drugs, they have no idea they may be taking fentanyl. It's the mass poisoning that we're concerned about," Hackensack Police Director Ray Guidetti said.

"I don’t think there’s ever been a more dangerous time in our society regarding overdose fatalities than there are right now," Bergen County Chief of Detectives Jason Love told WPIX.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan for over-the-counter use Wednesday.

"Naloxone is a critical tool in addressing opioid overdoses and today’s approval underscores the extensive efforts the agency has undertaken to combat the overdose crisis," said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Watch WCBS's coverage of the overdoses in the parking garage of The Shops at Riverside mall in Hackensack, New Jersey below.



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Body cam footage shows terrifying moment police officer almost dies from fentanyl exposure — but nearby officers saved her



Shocking body camera footage shows the moment a Florida police officer apparently overdosed on fentanyl after accidental exposure during a traffic stop.

While on a traffic stop Monday night, Tavares Police Department officer Courtney Bannick discovered narcotics on one of the passengers in the vehicle. The substance, according to detective Courtney Sullivan, was located in rolled up currency.

Despite handling the substance with care, including wearing gloves, the wind was roaring during the traffic stop, exposing Bannick to the highly toxic substance. But she didn't yet know that. After police transported the individuals who possessed the drugs, Bannick began choking and experiencing difficulty breathing.

Fortunately, officers on scene noticed that she had been exposed and quickly rushed into action, administering three doses of Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of opioids.

Officer collapses after possible exposure to fentanyl, police say www.youtube.com

Terrifying body camera footage shows a wide-eyed Bannick barely able to breath. As the officers waited for the ambulance to arrive, Bannick drifted in and out of consciousness. The officers lightly slapped her face and reminded her to breathe, but at one point, she was unresponsive.

"She was completely lifeless. She looks deceased in these videos," Sullivan told WOFL-TV. "So she’s very thankful today."

Bannick was taken to the hospital, where she will make a full recovery thanks to the quick-thinking officers. According to WOFL, she will be back at work by Friday.

The Tavares Police Department released the body cam footage to warn others about the danger of fentanyl.

"Officer Bannick really wants others to take away that this drug is dangerous. It's dangerous for not only yourself but others around you. Something as simple as the wind could expose you and just like that, your life could end," Sullivan said.

Bannick said after the incident, "I have done this one-hundred times before the same way. It only takes one time and a minimal amount. ... I’m thankful I wasn’t alone and had immediate help."

Anything else?

Drug overdoses from synthetic opioids like fentanyl have exploded in recent years, data shows.

The substance is both highly addictive and highly toxic — a lethal dose is as little as 2 mg — which is why illicit drug manufacturers pushed it into drug markets.

LA district to supply all schools with naloxone after 7 teens overdose on opioids



Following seven teen overdoses in the past month, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced on Thursday that all its schools will carry medication to reverse opioid overdoses.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho called the county’s opioid epidemic an “urgent crisis,” the Associated Press reported.

Carvalho stated that all schools within the district from kindergarten through 12th grade would be provided with naloxone, also known under the brand name Narcan, within the next few weeks. The county public health department will provide the medication at no cost to the district.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest district in the nation, with approximately 1,400 schools.

“Research shows that the availability of naloxone along with overdose education is effective at decreasing overdoses and death — and will save lives,” Carvalho said. “We will do everything in our power to ensure that not another student in our community is a victim to the growing opioid epidemic. Keeping students safe and healthy remains our highest priority.”

In addition to providing the schools with the medication, Carvalho announced that the district would launch an educational campaign about the dangers of fentanyl.

According to police, at least seven teenagers have overdosed in the past month from pills that were likely laced with fentanyl.

The most recent overdose occurred Saturday morning, when a 15-year-old boy was found unconscious by his mother at home. The boy is expected to recover.

Authorities are investigating whether the pills the boy took were the same ones that resulted in the fatal overdose of Melanie Ramos, who lost consciousness in the restroom at a Hollywood high school on September 13.

On Tuesday, L.A. Police Chief Michel Moore told the city Police Commission that the girl and her friend purchased a pill they believed was the prescription painkiller Percocet from a classmate. The two girls shared the pill in the high school bathroom and lost consciousness.

One teen woke up later that evening and attempted to wake Ramos, but she was unresponsive. Authorities reported that the pill, unknown to the girls, contained fentanyl.

Earlier that day and less than a half-mile away, paramedics responded to a call involving two teens involved in a possible overdose. The teens are believed to be students from the same high school.

Last week, police arrested two boys, ages 15 and 16, for selling drugs, including the ones responsible for Ramos’ death.

Los Angeles police are determined to find the supplier of the pills. Police Chief Moore described the two teenage boys as “simply pawns that are being used by adults and by drug trade organizations.”

'I almost died': Chilling video shows moment deputy collapses from fentanyl exposure



Shocking video shows the moment that a California deputy nearly died from a drug overdose just by being "too close" to fentanyl. If not for the quick actions of a fellow police officer, the deputy "would've died in that parking lot," according to the officer's partner.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department shared bodycam video of one of their rookie officers nearly dying during a drug bust on July 3. San Diego Sheriff's Office Deputy David Faiivae was exposed to the powerful opioid while processing drugs at the scene of an arrest.

Faiivae's field training officer, Corporal Scott Crane, said they found a white substance in a vehicle, which tested positive for fentanyl.

"That stuff's no joke, super dangerous," Crane cautioned Faiivae. "Hey dude, too close, you can't get that close to it."

"A couple seconds later he took some steps back and he collapsed," Crane says in the video. "I ran over to him. And I grabbed him. He was OD'ing."

Faiivae said, "I remember just not feeling right and then I fall back. I don't remember anything after that."

"It was an instant. It's as though my lungs locked up. I couldn't breathe," Faiivae said as he fought back tears, remembering his near-death experience. "I was trying to gasp for breath, but I couldn't breathe at all."

The quick-witted Crane rushed to the police vehicle to retrieve Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, which is a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Crane sprayed the Narcan into his partner's nostrils.

"I got you, OK? I'm not gonna let you die," Crane tells Faiivae.

Another San Diego Sheriff's Office Deputy arrives on the scene and Crane yells, "I need Narcan!" The fellow police officer administers more Narcan to Faiivae.

"Fire department got there, put him on the gurney, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he started to OD again," Crane remembered as they rushed his partner to the hospital. "He was OD'ing the whole way to the hospital."

"It's an invisible killer," Crane warned of fentanyl. "He would've died in that parking lot."

"I don't think people realize the severity of how deadly it really is," said Deputy Faiivae, who survived the accidental exposure. "I almost died of a fentanyl overdose."

San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore urged people to share the video, "It might save the life of your son, daughter, friend or loved one."

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but is 80 to 100 times more potent, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. "Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person's body size, tolerance and past usage," the DEA states.