BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source – Metal newspapers boxes that used to hold the day’s headlines have gone the way of payphones and paper maps. However, those boxes are being repurposed to spread a different kind of news.

Newspaper sales boxes in Mecosta and Osceola counties have been repurposed to hold the life-saving emergency antidote Narcan (Naloxone HCl) for someone suffering from a opioid drug overdose.

MORE NEWS: Detroit Schools Employee Health Insurance Costs: $79.1M in 2026

The Central Michigan Recovery and Education Network (CMREN) is a federally-funded program at Ferris State University (FSU). It is working with groups to place Narcan on FSU’s main campus in Big Rapids along with its secondary campus in Reed City.

CMREN project director Gail Bullard said the repurposed newspaper boxes is one of several important steps.

“A next step to protect our campus community will be to place ‘NaloxBox’ acrylic wall-mounted dispensers wherever there is an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in place,” Bullard said.

Bullard said the Naloxone nasal spray is provided for free by the state of Michigan. She said the rise of opioid use nationwide is a wake-up call to places like Big Rapids. 

“Our area is not immune and Naloxone being readily available is essential,” Bullard said.

CMREN was established in 2019 and funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) with a Rural Communities Opioid Response Program grant in 2020.

MORE NEWS: Whitmer Exits National Governors Association