According to a Fox News report, far-left San Francisco is experiencing some blowback for a $5 million pilot program that brings free beer, wine, and vodka shots to San Francisco’s Homeless alcoholics.
The city claims the program relieves strain on emergency services and saves lives — but one recovering addict claims the initiative delays folks from getting the help they need.
“It’s not a good idea, not when you consider the fact that, over the last four years, San Francisco spent $20 million to basically service a total of a couple of hundred people… by giving them free vodka and beer. For that amount of money, we could have funded 60 drug treatment beds instead,” Tom Wolf, founder of the Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery, told Fox News.
“You really have to ask, where’s the recovery in all of this? What is the desired outcome of this program? They say it’ll save money, but we just spent $20 million bucks over the last four years. You have to really ask, ‘is it saving money, and is it making a difference?’”
“What also accomplishes that goal is actually drug treatment,” he said of its efficacy. “It may reduce those [emergency] calls and thereby save money but, again, we’re spending $5 million a year to give people free alcohol…”
The San Francisco Chronicle describes the program as nurses who distribute “controlled doses” of vodka and beer to street people to keep them from going into withdrawal and overburdening emergency services.
It’s run out of a former hotel in the city’s Tenderloin district.
“Inside the lobby, they had a kegs set up to taps where they were basically giving out free beer to the homeless who’ve been identified with [alcohol use disorder],” wrote Adam Nathan, chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco Metro Advisory Board. “It’s set up so people in the program just walk in and grab a beer, and then another one. All day.”
“Where’s the recovery in all of this?”
A fair question, Mr. Nathan.
