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San Francisco Department of Public Health provides free liquor to people struggling with alcoholism

The "Alcohol Management Program" consists of serving controlled doses of alcohol to volunteer participants, most of whom are homeless, and suffer from addiction.

El Departamento de Salud Pública de San Francisco proporciona tragos gratis a personas que luchan contra el alcoholismo

(Voz Media - California Health Care Foundation - UCSF School of Medicine / Youtube)

Published by
Verónica Silveri Pazos

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The San Francisco (California) Department of Public Health has been implementing a project called the "Alcohol Management Program" for years. This scheme provides free alcohol (beer and vodka shots) to homeless alcoholics (all paid for by taxpayers' money). According to the text:

It is one of the first alcohol control pilot programs in the country (...) They are using these pilots to not only meet the immediate health needs of this population but also to collect best practices in the hopes of replicating the program for people experiencing homelessness more broadly and under non-COVID-19 circumstances in the future.

The program consists of serving controlled doses of alcohol to volunteer participants who suffer from addiction. The California Health Care Foundation explained the pilot program in an article published in 2020:

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. By prescribing limited quantities of alcohol, the model aims to prevent potentially life-threatening effects of alcohol withdrawal, such as seizures and injuries.

HomelessnessCOVID19AlcoholM... by Veronica Silveri

"Providing free drugs to drug addicts doesn't solve their problems"

The program (which has been operating since 2020 with the justification of increasing isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic), was fairly unknown until recently when Adam Nathan, president of the Salvation Army of San Francisco, posted on his X account criticizing what he witnessed when visiting one of the program's location and the $2 million spent on this program.

Inside the lobby, they had kegs set up to taps where they were basically giving out free beer to homeless people who've been identified with AUD (alcohol use disorder) (...) It's set up so people in the program just come in and grab a beer, and then another. All day (...)This whole thing is very odd to me and just doesn't feel right. Providing free drugs to drug addicts doesn't solve their problems. It just stretches them out. Where's the recovery in all of this?

The program started with 10 beds and since 2020 has expanded to a 20-bed program operating in a former hotel, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Criticism even from the mayor of San Francisco

Officials who support the program say it helps save lives. However, many are opposed. One of the program's major critics is San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who stated a few months ago that the program was "not reducing the damage" but rather "making things much worse."

According to Alice Moughamian, a nurse in charge of the Managed Alcohol Program and the San Francisco Sobriety Center, "The goal is not to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed, nor to gradually reduce someone towards abstinence (...) The goal is to mitigate the numerous health, legal, and interpersonal harms associated with unsafe alcohol consumption."

Moughamian said the initial success of the program was what prompted health officials to expand it especially to "the Latino and indigenous population." She said nurses provide alcoholics with a motel room, three meals a day and enough alcohol "to satisfy their addiction needs, but keep someone at a safe level of intoxication."

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