The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office has become the first Sheriff’s Office in the Commonwealth to install a naloxone vending machine, making the opioid overdose reversal medication available for free to all visitors and staff at the Middlesex Jail & House of Correction.
The machine was installed on December 9 at the facility’s visitor center, and has already been utilized 24 times since its launch. Currently, approximately 20-25% of incarcerated individuals in the Middlesex Jail & House of Correction are receiving a US Food and Drug Administration-approved medication for opioid use disorder (OUD). Many of them participate via the Medication Assisted Treatment and Directed Opioid Recovery (MATADOR) program offered at the facility.
“We have always taken a comprehensive, public health-centered approach to supporting those working through recovery,” said Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian. “Through MATADOR and our Families in Treatment program, we have been at the forefront of implementing commonsense, data-driven initiatives to surround individuals and their families with options for treatment. This new effort builds upon that robust foundation and will help make this life-saving medication more readily available.”
Individuals visiting the facility can access the naloxone anonymously, and will answer a few brief survey questions regarding age, gender, race and zip code. Survey data will be used to help inform future programming, as well as community-based prevention and intervention initiatives.
In addition to dispensing the naloxone, the vending machine features a video and graphics with instructions on how to properly administer the medication. Currently, the MSO distributes naloxone to loved ones of incarcerated individuals through the Families in Treatment (FIT) training programs. To date, 234 community members have been trained through the FIT program.
Access to naloxone and training on how to properly administer it has been proven effective in saving lives across Massachusetts. Earlier this year, data released by the Department of Public Health (DPH) showed its distribution of 196,500 naloxone kits through community-level programs resulted in at least 10,206 overdose reversals since the beginning of 2023.
The Middlesex Sheriff’s Office is utilizing funding from a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Site-based Program (COSSAP) grant to support this groundbreaking initiative.
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