Mass. Senate considers bill to place Narcan at all MBTA stations

"The bill, S. 2398, was petitioned by Sen. John Keenan in February, and seeks to expand a pilot program that began in the summer of 2024 to install naloxone - commonly referred to by its brand name, Narcan - at five Red Line stations. At a Joint Committee on Transportation hearing on Tuesday, Keenan (who represents several South Shore communities, including Braintree and Quincy along the Red Line) said it is crucial that naloxone be available at all MBTA stations, not just a select few."

"The bill proposes placing naloxone at all MBTA Blue, Green, Orange, and Red subway stations. Each station would have two freestanding, unalarmed naloxone boxes containing two units of four-milligram intranasal naloxone spray. The boxes would be monitored daily and flyers would be posted around the box with information about naloxone and instructions on how to use it."

S.2398 proposes installing naloxone at all MBTA Blue, Green, Orange, and Red subway stations, expanding a summer 2024 pilot that placed Narcan at five Red Line stations. Each station would contain two freestanding, unalarmed naloxone boxes holding two four-milligram intranasal doses, with daily monitoring and instructional flyers posted nearby. The legislation would require the MBTA to report to the legislature analyzing program benefits and costs and would establish oversight to evaluate effectiveness. A separate proposal, S.1551, would create a trust fund to finance statewide naloxone distribution. Massachusetts recorded 2,387 overdose deaths in 2023.

Read at Boston.com