New Narcan vending machine in Bastrop hopes to help curb opioid overdoses

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Local groups say the opioid epidemic in Texas is problematic. In the past week alone, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said it has investigated two deaths related to opioid overdoses.

In Bastrop, there were nine calls in 2023 to the local poison control center.

‘We are experiencing an overdose crisis’

“In Texas, we are experiencing an overdose crisis,” Texas Harm Reduction Alliance Executive Director Maggie Luna said. A former drug user herself, she now advocates for the use of harm reduction techniques across our area and the state.

University of Texas Houston also wants to help battle the problem — in places like Bastrop and elsewhere. It has placed a naloxone (better known as Narcan) vending machine at Bastrop County Cares, located at 806 Water Street.

The vending machine is free and available to the public.

UT Houston said being aware of the dangers of overdoses, and making Narcan readily available to everyone is just one way to help combat the problem.

VOCAL Texas, a statewide grassroots organization aimed at helping curb the use of drugs, especially for low-income individuals, reports 13 Texans die daily from preventable overdoses.

13 Texans die a day from overdoses

The group said drug overdose deaths increased by more than 75% in the past five years. In 2023, there were an estimated 5,566 drug-related deaths in Texas. Of those, 45% of them involved fentanyl , the Texas Tribune reported.

“People are buying Xanax, or percocets, or anything off the street, and they’re being pressed with fentanyl,” Brandie Harris said. She’s a community health liaison for UT Houston focused on Bastrop.

VOCAL Texas is calling on Governor Greg Abbott to do more.

Ahead of “Opioid Awareness Day” on Saturday, leaders from VOCAL Texas and other organizations held a rally Thursday afternoon outside the governor’s mansion to address the growing need for awareness.

‘It’s just like having an EpiPen’

Narcan has been proven an easy way to give someone immediate help while they wait for medical attention. Part of the problem can be having easy access to it. That’s where the vending machines come in.

“It’s just like having an EpiPen, Harris said. “You have an allergic reaction, of course you want to have your EpiPen ready because you don’t know what your adverse side effects are going to be.”

The long-term goal of all the groups involved is to have Narcan available for when you least expect it, whether or not you’re a drug user.

“Keeping it on you at all times. It can stand high heat temperatures so it doesn’t harm it,” Harris explained.

It’s a problem in Texas these groups hope to stop — and now.

“These senseless deaths are happening to people who don’t know fentanyl is in what they’re taking,” Luna said.

Narcan only takes seconds to work. Health experts say if someone is given Narcan, but is not having an opiate overdose it will not harm them.

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