Program focuses on wellness

Assembly bill pushing more than snacks at vending machines.

By: Brian Nemorin, Staff Writer

Photo Illustration by Astrid Cortez

Participating California community colleges and Cal State campuses are part of a pilot project to provide students with “wellness vending machines.” Assembly Bill 2482 requires participating campuses to submit a report on July 1, 2025 on the progress of the machines. 

Although Valley College, which is not part of the project, does not feature wellness machines on campus, the college offers free menstrual products on selected campus bathrooms. The Student Health Center also provides Narcan, an opioid reversal medication, and fentanyl testing strips.

Valley’s vending machines mostly offer food and drinks, but architecture major Jacob Tunchez thinks his campus should consider adopting wellness machines. 

“That would be a great idea. Having Narcan would definitely save lives, and it’s generally an easy process to use something like that,” said Tunchez.  

The text of Assembly Bill 2482 outlines that the vending machines could sell “condoms, dental dams, menstrual cups, lubrication, tampons, menstrual pads, pregnancy tests, and nonprescription drugs, including discounted emergency contraception.” On some campuses where similar vending machines exist, they also sell soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, and eye drops.

Valley’s Alison Tellez said vending machines that sell health products is “a good idea [because] the campus is trying to care for their students.”

However, she’s not so sure about selling pharmaceuticals in the vending machines. 

“I don’t like that anyone has access to [Narcan],” said Tellez. “The measures for it should be  controlled. Anybody that is on campus, even little kids could buy it…It’s not a good idea to do it like that.”

Some students expressed concern about selling any type of drug on campus because Valley is an open campus. Elementary education major Mariely Moreno said that providing health products to students in vending machines just makes sense. 

“There’s times where you’re out of the house and you don’t have your stuff with you,”  Moreno said.