WHAT COULD GO WRONG? San Francisco Using Tax Dollars to Buy Vodka and Beer for Homeless Alcoholics

 

The city of San Francisco is using tax dollars to buy vodka and beer for homeless alcoholics. Who thought this was a good idea?

Aside from the issue of using tax dollars to do this, how is this good for the homeless alcoholics? Shouldn’t the goal be to get these people off the street and into treatment?

How are these people helped by the city feeding their addiction?

Breitbart News reports:

‘Where’s the Recovery in All This?’: SF Buying Beer, Vodka for Homeless Alcoholics with Taxpayer Money

Homeless alcoholics are getting free beer and vodka under a taxpayer-funded pilot program in San Francisco as city leadership grapples with the homelessness crisis plaguing its streets.

The city’s Department of Public Health runs the Managed Alcohol Program (MAP) to give doses of alcohol to the addicted, Fox News reported on Saturday.

Officials hope the program will “keep the homeless off the streets” and decrease incidents in which emergency services have to step in.

“Experts say the program can save or extend lives, but critics wonder if the government would be better off funding treatment and sobriety programs instead,” Fox noted.

Here’s more from the FOX News report:

The “Managed Alcohol Program” operated by San Francisco’s Department of Public Health serves regimented doses of alcohol to voluntary participants with alcohol addiction in an effort to keep the homeless off the streets and relieve the city’s emergency services. Experts say the program can save or extend lives, but critics wonder if the government would be better off funding treatment and sobriety programs instead.

“Established in countries such as Canada and Australia, a managed alcohol program is usually administered by a nurse and trained support staff in a facility such as a homeless shelter or a transitional or permanent home, and is one method to minimize harm for those with alcohol use disorder,” the California Health Care Foundation explains in an 2020 article describing the pilot program.

How bad does life in San Francisco have to get for voters there to reject progressive policies?