San Francisco buys vodka shots for homeless alcoholics in taxpayer-funded program

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The City of San Francisco is providing free beer and vodka shots to homeless alcoholics at taxpayer expense under a little-known pilot program.

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.

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

The San Francisco managed alcohol program, or MAP, was established during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent vulnerable homeless people who were placed in isolation in hotel rooms from suffering from alcohol withdrawal. But the program, which started with 10 beds, has since been expanded into a 20-bed program that operates out of a former hotel in Tenderloin with a $5 million annual budget, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Alice Moughamian, the Nurse Manger of the Managed Alcohol Program and the San Francisco Sobering Center, explained in an October presentation that nurses provide clients with a motel room, three meals a day, and enough alcohol "to meet their addiction needs, but keeping someone at a safe level of intoxication."

Initial success in stabilizing alcoholic patients prompted health officials to expand the pilot into a long-term program with 10 beds earmarked for "the Latinx and indigenous population," while 12 additional beds are supported at the city's traditional sobering center, Moughamian said.

Bryce Bridge, a social worker involved with the program, said during the presentation that once a client is identified as having alcohol abuse problems and admitted, they are assessed to determine individual needs. Clients are connected to a primary care doctor, provided resources to secure government identification if they lack a social security card or other documents and assisted with psychiatric care, wellness activities on site and other evidence-based treatments.

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