San Francisco Uses Taxpayer’s Money To Provide Free Alcohol For Homeless

San Jose County’s The Sun reports the program was launched in 2020 ‘to prevent alcohol withdrawal among homeless individuals placed in hotel rooms, and it has since expanded to a 20-bed program with a $5 million annual budget.’ The program also ‘offers resources for securing identification, psychiatric care, wellness activities, and connections to community-based organizations,’ the paper added.

‘City public health officials argue the program’s benefits, citing emergency room declines, savings from reduced hospital visits, and relief for the city’s already strained emergency services,’ reports Benzinga.

Keanan Joyner, a professor and researcher in the Clinical Research on Externalizing and Addiction Mechanisms Lab at UC Berkeley, thinks the move is a good one, stating: “The science is very clear at this point that harm reduction as a general strategy for treating alcohol and other drug use disorders is very effective. It’s a very positive thing,” Joyner said.

He went on to say, according to KQED, ‘Funding programs like MAP, however, can actually have monetary benefits to the public, especially since not all people with alcohol use disorder are willing to go through abstinence-based treatment programs.’

Adam Nathan, a small-business owner and chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco Metro Advisory Board, has criticized the move. He says it’s setup as “so people in the program just walk in and grab a beer, and then another one,” and that “inside the lobby, they had a keg’s set up to taps where they were basically giving out free beer to the homeless who’ve been identified with [alcohol use disorder].”

“I am a taxpayer. When did this Managed Alcohol Program get approved? Where were the public hearings? Why is it hidden away in an old hotel?” he queried…