Advocate works to fill Narcan vending machines in Kane County to fight opioid overdoses

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – A vending machine is tucked into the far corner of the entry to the lobby of the Kane County Sheriff’s Office at 37W755 Route 38, St. Charles Township.

This machine has no chips, peanuts or candy. And you don’t need money.

When you push the button, what drops down is a free 4-milligram dose of naloxone nasal spray – the generic of Narcan – a medication that reverses an opioid overdose.

“This is harm reduction,” said Daryl Pass, the Kenneth Young Center Recovery Support Services senior manager. “Harm reduction is anything that lessens harm on an individual that is using drugs.”

Narcan saves lives.

In the simplest terms, Pass said it gives a person who abuses opioids another chance to survive an overdose, another chance to decide on rehab and recovery, another opportunity at life.

Pass drives about 100 miles every week restocking the Kenneth Young Center’s Narcan vending machines in Elk Grove Village – where it’s main office is – and then to Des Plaines, Schaumburg, Elgin and the sheriff’s office in St. Charles Township.

Each machine holds 54 doses.

On a recent stop at the sheriff’s office, there were about 20 doses left.

The machines and Narcan are funded through the Illinois Health Department’s Drug Overdose Prevention Program, Pass said.

The Kenneth Young Center has given out more than 3,062 units of Narcan since June 3, 2023, when the agency received its first vending machine, Pass said.

“For the Elk Grove [Village] machine, we have six people who have been saved since last year,” he said. “In Des Planes, it’s five. Elgin reported two.”

“This is harm reduction. Harm reduction is anything that lessens harm on an individual that is using drugs.”

—  Daryl Pass, manager of the Kenneth Young Center Recovery Support Services

Pass, who is from Elgin, also has a nonprofit called New Beginnings Recovery Mission that supports two sober houses for men. A sober house is where people who have completed treatment for a substance abuse disorder can live with support to stay sober.

“[A sober house] served me as part of my foundation,” Pass said about his own recovery.

Testing strips

The machine also offers testing strips for fentanyl, benzodiazepine and xylazine.

Fentanyl, an opioid, often is mixed with heroin or other drugs to intensify the effect, risking death from an overdose.

Kane County reported 75 opioid-related deaths in 2022. Of those, 90 included all drugs such as cocaine, heroin and alcohol and 66 deaths involved fentanyl.

Opioids include prescription pain relievers such as Oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine and the illegal drug heroin. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is an opioid 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

While Narcan can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, it can’t affect benzodiazepine, a depressant – known by prescription as Xanax or Klonopin. It also can’t do anything for xylazine, a tranquilizer used for horses and livestock not approved for use by people.

The testing strips inform the user of what else is in the drugs he or she is using.

“Narcan can reverse the opioid effect,” Pass said. “However, Narcan does not work on nonopioids. But it can be used to assist until paramedics arrive.”

Although the vending machines do not offer safe using kits – clean needles – Pass said it is something they are working on.

“That is also part of it – harm reduction,” Pass said of the safe kits. “They are going to use drugs anyway. We can make it safer for you with safe, clean, using kits and keep you stocked with Narcan. We are lessening disease and death.”

Support groups

Harm reduction is part of the recovery process.

The other part comes through support groups, Pass said.

“One of the things we embrace is Smart Recovery, a science-based, peer-led program with four pillars,” Pass said. “Behavior and thoughts, motivation, coping with urges and living a balanced lifestyle.”

Smart Recovery, which has been around since 1994, is a nonprofit that offers an alternative to the 12-step program, Pass said.

“Right now, I have seven groups,” he said.

They include support for adults, a men’s group, a women’s group, family and friends, LGBTQ+ group, an adolescent group and one in Spanish.

Group support is not only for substance abuse, but for eating, gambling and sex disorders.

The groups are both in person and virtual.

Pass does three groups and staff facilitates the other four.

Ali Buck, 28, of Chicago, is in one of the Smart Recovery support groups to deal with alcohol abuse.

“There were two overdoses in the building where I lived,” Buck said. “One was an unhoused person who had gotten into the building and overdosed in the bathroom on the first floor. He was found by the security guard the next morning. He did not survive.”

The second death was a tenant.

“Security did not have Narcan nor any training of how to administer it,” Buck said. “Paramedics did not get there and she also passed away.”

Buck got free Narcan from Pass and provided it to the security staff, as well as training in how to use it.

Buck has since moved to another building where there is no security staff, but she has made it known if people need it, she has Narcan available.

“I won’t ask any questions,” Buck said. “I’ve lost so many people who are close to me because of opiate overdoses. Before I started my recovery, I had heard of Narcan, but it wasn’t accessible.”

Training in how to use Narcan is available online at the Illinois Department of Public Health at dph.illinois.gov.

The Kane County Health Department website www.kanehealth.com also lists other locations in Kane County where free Narcan is available.