re: Are food banks "enablers" of drug addicts??

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Don't think that is true, so the rest of your post is meaningless.

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For many it is absolutely true. Addicts will feed their monster as long as they're able in most cases.

I'd rather have food banks than SNAP.

Well I’m not sure about that, but Medicaid and Healthy Louisiana are pretty much enablers of them. It’s sad the amount of repeat patients there are in the program.

Just like every other Medicaid patient, you can treat them but you can’t make them responsible for their own health.

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I know of families that have drug addicts in the family that will do anything to get more dope and they still house and feed them. Would they be doing the addict a favor to cut him off?

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They might get clean or they might spiral further downward. Tough choice and I dont envy any family that has to make it.

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Should families be like that too?

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Do you know what it is like to turn a family member out like that? Do you know the level of guilt and stress that it places on a family....the level of guilt , the sleepless nights, the worry? Yes, obstensebly it has to be done, but doing it is gut wrenching...try putting your child out on the street like that
My aunt did it to my cousin. The despair that woman and my uncle went through was profound. Not knowing if they were alive or dead or where they were? It was not until my brother found him 3 years later ....ironically less than a mile from his mother's house did he start getting clean. He was panhandling . He walked up to my brother's car, my brother recognized him and my brother stopped the car walked up to him and told him to get in. Spent 7 months in rehab....cost me and him over 100K with no guarantees

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believe most food bank stuff goes to the elderly.

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Food banks are merely the collector and distributor for a certain area. Everything they collect are either given or “sold” to food pantries. Pantries can be set up to distribute to every at need person in the city / county, or could be more specialized to only include kids in school, veterans, elderly, etc.

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He’s an autistic pure “conservative”

People like him are insufferable

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I always thought the "pure conservative" view was to limit government welfare programs and encourage private charity. I think this guy is going a little further than pure conservatism.

As to his question, my church operates a food bank. The vast majority who come through are elderly people and mothers with children. I'm sure there are addicts that come through but we don't have the funds or manpower to screen everyone and I doubt we would bother even if we did.

What is your solution, op? Shut down completely and punish all the others so we can show a few junkies 'tough love'? Throw out the baby with the bathwater?

And FYI: homeless junkies and homeless in general usually have limited use for food banks. Most of the donations (minus canned goods) are things that require preparation and/or refrigeration. They are more likely to eat at soup kitchens, IME.

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If the choice is food or dope will they eventually quit dope? 

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No