San Francisco under fire for program giving booze to homeless alcoholics:
'Where's the recovery in all this?'
San Francisco's 'Managed Alcohol Program' offers booze, life skills classes and cultural outings to homeless addicts
A $5 million pilot program bringing free beer, wine and vodka shots to San Francisco's homeless alcoholics aims to relieve the city's emergency services, but one addict-turned-recovery advocate says the effort misses the mark and only delays recovery for those who need it.
"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 & Friends First."
"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?’"
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'Where's the recovery in all this?'
San Francisco's 'Managed Alcohol Program' offers booze, life skills classes and cultural outings to homeless addicts
A $5 million pilot program bringing free beer, wine and vodka shots to San Francisco's homeless alcoholics aims to relieve the city's emergency services, but one addict-turned-recovery advocate says the effort misses the mark and only delays recovery for those who need it.
"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 & Friends First."
"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?’"
San Francisco under fire for program giving booze to homeless alcoholics: 'Where's the recovery in all this?'
Recovering addict and recovery advocate Tom Wolf said San Francisco's "Managed Alcohol Program" misses the mark when taxpayer funds could go toward other programs to combat addiction.
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