Narcan vending machines, stocked with the overdose-reversing medication, are popping up all over the country, with the latest machines coming to Kansas and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kansas\u2019s first two machines were installed<\/a> in February in Wichita and Hutchinson, 13 WIBW reported. Another is set to be placed in Johnson County, and more are headed for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fentanyl overdose deaths across the nation are breaking records<\/a>, with the rate breaching 112,000 for the first time in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wichita, a city of just under 400,000 people, did not have a major fentanyl problem until recently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFentanyl deaths in the Wichita area tripled in 2020, going from 28 the previous year to 90,\u201d the Wichita Beacon<\/em> reported<\/a>. \u201cBy 2021, the number of deaths nearly doubled on top of that, rising to 162. The final tally for 2022 stands at 192.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2018, more than 500 Wichita-area residents have died from what was a \u201cnearly nonexistent threat before then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Kansas Recovery Network co-founder Seth Dewey, the Narcan vending machines will help combat this growing problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt reduces overdose deaths, and that\u2019s one of the main things that we try to accomplish by having naloxone readily available,\u201d he told 13 WIBW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amber Saale-Burger has lost four family members to fentanyl, with the most recent death being her daughter, Kaylee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere always been addiction; there\u2019s always been experimentation. Kids are going to try things, and if they don\u2019t know it\u2019s super dangerous, like, it\u2019s not smart to try things; it never has been, but now, that\u2019s not even an option anymore,\u201d said Saale-Burger, who is now a fentanyl awareness advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said she \u201cdidn\u2019t know anything about the deadly drug until she began losing family members to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen to you until it happens to you,\u201d she told the local outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, Saale-Burger raises money for \u201cSave A Life Stations<\/a>\u201d \u2014 which provides harm-reduction kits containing Narcan, drug testing strips, safe disposal kits, and \u201cinformational resources such as Narcan administration training videos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are kind of the same idea as the vending machines, only there are no barriers here,\u201d the activist wrote on GoFundMe<\/a>. \u201cThe station will be placed outside. No one will ask you what you\u2019re doing. No one to judge. Just grab the life-saving tool that you need and be on your way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saale-Burger has already installed one in Topeka, the capital city of Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is also an advocate for House Bill 2487<\/a>, a piece of potential legislation that would provide \u201cimmunity from prosecution for certain drug crimes when persons seek or provide medical assistance related to the use of a controlled substance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The grieving mother celebrated the bill passing the state House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was so afraid that it was going to die, but it is moving forward. This is such great news today,\u201d she wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to seven-time New York Times<\/em> best-selling author Peter Schweizer, \u201cour country is at war\u201d with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and organized criminal gangs in China who poison Americans with fentanyl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur country is at war, and we need to wake up to the fact that we are at war, and war is being waged on us,\u201d Schweizer warned during a Wednesday discussion<\/a> with Mark Levin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPart of this is what China\u2019s doing to us. The other part is why our leaders are letting them do it, and they\u2019re not even calling them out. Gavin Newsom is a prime example of that,\u201d he continued,\u00a0 explaining why powerful U.S. figures turn a blind eye while China kills Americans, as detailed in his latest book,\u00a0Blood Money<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMeanwhile, fentanyl deaths in California are up more than 1,200 percent since 2016,\u201d the author said while criticizing California Gov. Newsom\u2019s refusal to hold China accountable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Levin,\u00a0Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans\u00a0is an \u201cabsolutely crucial book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n