Vending machine with free life-saving drug placed in Madison Co. jail

MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - A life-saving drug is now available for free from a vending machine in the Madison County Detention Center.

Voices of Hope partnered with other agencies to get a Narcan vending machine placed in the jail. It’s the second machine they’ve placed around central Kentucky and officials say they are making a difference.

“Every single overdose death is preventable,” Ashely Berkshire, Voices of Hope.

They partnered with the Healing Communities Study and Core to place the Narcan vending machine in the Madison County Detention Center to help save lives.

“When people are leaving jail, they’re at a much higher risk of overdose because they’ve been in there maybe like a week or a few days, their tolerance starts to dip down,” Berkshire said. “There’s people who leave jail and overdose and die all the time, so they’re some of the most important people to have that.”

Berkshire says the Madison County machine was placed in December, and already 67 units of Narcan were taken out.

“The response has been really high,” Berkshire said. “You know, the machine is free of cost. They just have to come in and push a couple of buttons.”

Officials encourage everyone to use this tool to help save someone’s life. In fact, on that machine inside the detention center, there’s a sign that says, “take as many as you need to save a life.”

“‘Oh, this person, they’ve used Narcan like 10 times,’ like if that’s what it takes for that person to live, then that’s what it takes,” Bershire said. “We shouldn’t, like, limit that. The value of a life isn’t determined by what substance they put in their body. Every life is valuable and precious.”

Berkshire says they hope to place more Narcan vending machines around central Kentucky going forward.

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