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In addition to Naloxone, menstrual products and wound care kits, Linn County’s harm reduction vending machines now dispense gun locks.

The change comes from collaboration between Linn County Public Health, the Substance Misuse Committee of Linn County, the Cedar Rapids Police Department and Project ChildSafe.

Harm reduction is a broad term that describes actions taken to keep individuals and their community safe . The harm reduction vending machines contain items that reduce risk for multiple public health issues: Naloxone for opioid overdoses, condoms for sexually transmitted infections and now gun locks for gun violence prevention.

The locks were provided by Project ChildSafe, a national

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