AURORA | Aurora is eligible for substantial funding for opioid overdose prevention, but some city lawmakers are balking at spending grant money on vending machines that dispense naloxone, fearing it could promote drug use.
“I just want to make sure we’re not promoting any sort of, you know, safe injection sites, and for me, that kind of teeters on that,” Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said during a Monday city council meeting about a plan to procure the vending machines.
The city is on track to receive more than $3.4 million over the next 17 years as part of Colorado’s share of national opioid settlement funds to help combat the opioid crisis, and naloxone — also known as the brand name Narcan — vending machines were one prevention proposal.
The drug is used to treat people suffering an opioid drug overdose, which can be fatal.
Opioid overdose deaths have risen dramatically since 2020, according to Colorado Department of Health statistics. In 2023, the state recorded 1,865 overdose deaths, about 200 occurred in both Adams and Arapahoe counties.
Denver and some cities across the country have been implementing vending machines for more than two years as a way to make the life-saving opioid antidote more accessible to drug users and to those who come in contact with them.
The grant funds come from legal settlements with pharmaceutical companies, distributors and retailers found to be responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic, according to Calli Tucker, Aurora’s Crisis Intervention Program administrator.
Aurora police, rescuers and similar public-facing workers have been supplied with naloxone, so far provided from the state to Aurora for free, according to Jessica Prosser, director of Housing and Community Services.
As of 2024, $1,737,942 in opioid settlement funds have been made available to the city, with only $245,540 approved so far for vans and buses to transport people to and from the Aurora Navigation Campus. The center is Aurora’s work-first, one-stop shop facility for handling homelessness in Aurora. It’s expected to open later this year.
“Given the nature of how we expect these settlement funds to be dispersed, we anticipate the amount the city of Aurora receives to fluctuate, and so that has been taken into account for the sustainability of the recommendations that we will see,” Tucker said.
An agreement with the state allows for expenditures to fall within certain areas: treatment, prevention, services for children, support for first responders, community leadership, staffing and training, research and related administrative costs.
According to Tucker, city staff proposed four initial funding projects based on the city’s history and available evidence:
- Consulting services to access Medicaid billing, estimated at $125,000
- Implement naloxone vending/resource distribution sites, estimated at about $10,000 for each site, possibly two or more sites
- Expanded emergency medical services for opioid overdoses, estimated at $112,000
- Expanded intervention services in response to opioid overdoses, estimated at $55,000-$87,000, per site, with possibly two sites
Although there has been recent national news about Medicaid funding cuts, the opioid settlement money appears to still be secure, according to city officials.
“For the time being, the state has gone through the federal government and gotten approval for the rest of this year at least, to be using this funding, Medicaid funding, for supportive services,” Emma Knight, Homeless Programs manager, said. “For now, they have received a waiver for us to be able to do things like this.”
Both Jurinsky and Coffman said they were skeptical about naloxone vending machines in public places, especially when city staff, healthcare workers, and employees at the soon-to-be-open Navigation Campus would be equipped with naloxone themselves. They both said concerns that a readily available vending machine would give the impression that illicit drug use is acceptable.
Proponents of naloxone distribution say the reduction in overdose deaths has been attributed to a public information campaign and making the antidote drug widely accessible, without stigma.
There were 442 non-fatal opioid overdose abate emergency department visits at acute care hospitals in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties in 2023,” Tucker said. “There were 350 opioid overdose emergency department visits at acute care hospitals in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties in 2023.”
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 13.9% decrease in fatal overdoses in Colorado from October 2023 to October 2024 compared to the previous year, according to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
The deaths caused by synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, dropped 28.5%, from 1,192 to 852, according to the article. Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention, which is part of CU Anschutz’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said that one reason the fatal overdose rate has declined is that naloxone is readily available for anyone to have.
This “non-judgmental tone” is a significant factor in one of their opioid prevention campaigns, dubbed “Keep The Party Safe.”
Keep The Party Safe, which is led locally by a consortium and CU Anschutz, is aimed at occasional and recreational drug users between the ages of 18 and 45 who are unaware that fentanyl can be found in drugs including cocaine, MDMA, meth and heroin. Counterfeit versions of prescription drugs, including Xanax and OxyContin, are also a danger, according to a research article from CU Anschutz.
“The Keep the Party Safe campaign has a non-judgmental tone and shares information that empowers individuals to take steps to protect themselves and others from overdose, particularly by keeping naloxone on hand, testing drugs and knowing the signs of an overdose,” according to the essay.
Multiple studies have attributed the vending machines for decreases in fatal overdoses as high as 15%, according to Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
“Research showed that 73.3% of drug overdose deaths in Colorado in 2023 had at least one potential opportunity for intervention, most often by a bystander,” Tucker said during the meeting. “Which speaks to why the focus on opioid abatement fund strategies are so crucial.”
Coffman and other council members requested that the city staff return with more detailed information for further discussion.
Naloxone made available in a variety of ways, including vending machines, saves lives. To question whether or not they encourage safe drug use nearby seems to be similar to saying that the presence of a medical emergency room encourages illness….
True. But this is jurinksy yeah?
Exactly! Or that the availability to get condoms encourages the activity that can result in unwanted pregnancies and transmission of STDs in people who would otherwise be celibate.
Our city brain trust needs a complete overhaul! Jurinski and Coffman lied about the gangs taking over apartment buildings until Coffman did a 180! Jurinski is still out to lunch. Now they think Naloxone may promote drug use. Duh, you numbskulls, the problem is already here. It was promoted by the Sacklers and countless doctors. Naloxone saves lives. Geez, read once in a while! Please vote these Bozos out in November. We deserve better!
Is she really serious? God forbid that an addict has access to help instead of dying. Jurinsky is scared of anyone and anything that is outside of her comfort zone. But don’t worry. If you’re a white, housed, non-addict Republican in Aurora she has your back.
Naloxone availability in shelters,halfway houses, soberliving houses, police, fire are all good places for distribution. Vending machines would not work as some people would empty it out and waist them rather than actually going to a need. It woukdn’t create a drug sharing place as ignorant people would think. Maybe hand them out at city councel meetings as have the councel believe in person constituants are drug addled rioters.
I am confused, though, by these sentences. Can someone please explain them to me?
“There were 442 non-fatal opioid overdose abate emergency department visits at acute care hospitals in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties in 2023… There were 350 opioid overdose emergency department visits at acute care hospitals in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties in 2023.”