Last summer, Samara Furlong and Leto Rankine were ready to hit Detroit’s hottest Memorial Day weekend parties.

After the annual Movement techno festival, they ventured to Marble Bar and Tangent Gallery in New Center and Club Toilet, a queer dance party, at Menjos in Palmer Park. 

But they weren’t out to dance, drink, or hear music from Detroit’s techno artists. The pair had a different mission in mind: keeping partygoers safe by distributing kits supplied with condoms and Narcan, a life-saving medication used to reverse an opioid overdose. 

“The (Movement) festival has a first aid tent, they have paramedics on site. That’s not the case for the after parties as much,” said Rankine, noting they distributed between 400 to 600 kits at underground events that weekend. 

The kits are part of the newer harm reduction project Casual Safe, under Furlong and Rankine’s arts incubator Buffalo Prescott, where they serve as founder and managing director, respectively. 

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Casual Safe distributes safe sex kits with condoms and lubricant and Narcan kits medications, vitamin E and test strips for drinks to detect fentanyl and GHB, a prescription medication used to treat narcolepsy that’s also distributed as a street drug. Detroit Recovery Project, a clinic that provides outpatient support services for those with substance use and mental health disorders, is an initiative partner.

Buffalo Prescott plans to launch its first vending machine with the supplies this spring near The Lincoln Factory, a bar in New Center. The Narcan and contraceptives will be free and available 24 hours a day, Rankine said. 

Small fine art prints will also be in the machine for purchase to help fund the project, Furlong added. 

“It’s a scary time,” she said. “We can’t all just bury our heads in the sand. We have to protect each other and protect ourselves.” 

Bridging art with safety

In recent years, vending machines distributing free Narcan have popped up across metro Detroit and around the country. Last year, Wayne County installed 100 Narcan vending machines to battle against drug overdose deaths. In 2023, Oakland County deployed 45 machines at health clinics, urgent cares and police and fire departments. 

Drug overdoses have killed more than 25,000 Michiganders over the last decade. In 2022, nearly 3,000 people died of overdoses — more than those killed by car crashes or guns combined. Opioids were the cause of 80% of those deaths, with a Michigander dying of an overdose every four hours.

In 2023, the latest year available, overdose deaths in the state decreased by 5.7%, with 2,826 deaths recorded compared to 2,998 deaths in 2022, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 

Meanwhile, sexually transmitted infection rates are rising in Michigan. A recent report from health information site Innerbody Research said that metro Detroit has the highest rate of STIs in the country, with 1,491 STI cases per 100,000 residents in 2023. 

Furlong said she and Rankine came up with the idea for Casual Safe last year shortly after curating the exhibit, “Divine Wisdom: Femme Alchemy Through Contemporary Art and Performance” at The Jam Handy. 

“Movement was coming up and we wanted to merge art with safety and just make safety accessible and cool,” she said.

She brought in Buffalo Prescott resident artist Shaina Kasztelan to design the packaging. 

The kit design is similar to that of a candy wrapper in bright blues, pinks, yellows and oranges. Kasztelan wanted it to be eye-catching and have a raver vibe. 

“If you were at an after party and you would see that across the room, it would be like, ‘Ooh, what’s that? I want to go get it, whatever’s in there,’” she said. “It’s not like having it in this packaging makes it fun or anything, but there’s something to it that feels a little bit more empowering than scary.” 

After the first round of kits were distributed during Movement weekend, Furlong received direct messages on Instagram, saying how young people were putting them to use to save lives.

“It felt really great to be doing something that made an immediate difference and gave a Detroit artist a platform, but also had a direct impact on the community,” she said. 

The Buffalo Prescott team took the concept to Florida in December, passing out 600 kits at the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) Miami art fair and in the city of Miami Beach. Rankine, Kasztelan and Hannah Meissner of Detroit Recovery Project also participated in a talk during the event, discussing how to raise awareness about harm reduction through art. 

Making harm reduction ‘cute’ 

Eliminating barriers is also an important part of the project for Furlong, Rankine and Kasztelan. For example, Narcan costs $45 at CVS and $35 at Walgreens if people purchase the pharmacy brand. Not everyone can afford to buy the medication, especially if they need more than one pack, Kasztelan said. 

“It’s kind of insane to me that there’s all of these barriers put in front of us to have this life-saving medication that people might not always be able to afford,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to a party. Let me just stop at CVS first and spend $50.’” 

When it comes to getting birth control, people might be too nervous to buy condoms at the store, Furlong said. 

“Pharmacies are very sterile, there’s security glass and you feel like you’re doing something wrong and someone’s watching you,” she said. “And so, to remove those barriers, and make something in a cool package…you’re cool if you do get it instead of feeling like you’re getting in trouble or you’re being punished.” 

Rankine said he eventually wants to offer multiple vending machines across Detroit, in popular places like gas stations. 

“We’re demystifying what it looks like, how art can be impactful in a way that is useful, but then also demystifying this medicine,” Rankine said. “It went from being in these clinical boxes that you’d have to pay $45 for, to being something that anyone can get. We wanted to make harm reduction cute.”