Outside the NeighborHealth Center in East Boston, a new vending machine is offering far more than snacks and water.
“We have socks, we have gloves, we have blankets,” explained Desiree Millett, Clinical Administrative Director of Recovery Services. “We also have what we call ‘safer use kits’ for people who actively use drugs.”
Clean needles, fentanyl test strips
The machine is stocked with essential items like clean needles, fentanyl test strips, and free naloxone, also known as Narcan, the life-saving medication which quickly reverses opioid overdoses. The product is free and accessible when a user provides a zip code.
Since 2023, Millett has been working to bring the machine to the clinic through a Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) grant aimed to make naloxone more accessible in high-risk communities.
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“So far in 2025, we’ve distributed 20,000 naloxone doses through these machines and other BPHC initiatives,” said Shereen Sodder, Director of the Boston Overdose Data to Action Project.
“Reduce the stigma”
This is the first vending machine in Boston that’s both outdoors and available to the public 24 hours a day. Four others are located indoors across the city, including one at Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a nonprofit serving homeless and at-risk youth.
“When young people come into Bridge, they are always in a place of crisis, and there’s a lot going on,” said Program Director Peter Ducharme. His hope is that the anonymity of the machine will reduce the stigma of getting help.
“We hope it makes it just a real normative process to be able to ask for these types of resources,” Ducharme said.
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