New Mexico Health Care Authority to deploy Narcan vending machines
Mar 18, 2025
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The life-saving medication naloxone, which can reverse an overdose from opioids, is now available at Income Support Division (ISD) offices and will soon be placed in some vending machines in New Mexico.
"We've been working on strategies to get naloxone or Narcan out into
the community, and one of the ways that we're looking at doing that is through our Income Support Division offices, or ISD. And that's an important area, because we do have a lot of people that are coming through," said Nick Boukas, director of the New Mexico Health Care Authority Behavioral Health Services Division.
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The ISD offices provide assistance to New Mexicans who have SNAP benefits or income support needs. They also provide programs for individuals that have housing assistance requirements. "Knowing that over 40% of New Mexicans are receiving Medicaid or some sort of assistance, we wanted to make sure that this is an area where we can reach folks. This is a product that we know needs to get into people's hands," Boukas explained.
The naloxone is free and available to anyone who goes into the offices and asks support staff for it. Staff will also be trained on how to recognize and respond to opioid overdoses.
In the next three months, the New Mexico Health Care Authority also plans to deploy 20 naloxone vending machines across the state. Four will go to Crisis Triage Centers in Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, and Gallup. A total of 16 machines will be placed in high-traffic ISD offices and counties with the highest overdose rates.
"Someone will be able to go in and just put in some basic information to get naloxone, and they can just have it available to them or to a family member," Boukas said.
In 2022 and 2023, New Mexico saw overdose deaths decline. Bourkas attributed that progress to the availability of naloxone. ...read more read less