{"id":2244239,"date":"2024-05-14T12:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T16:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-franciscos-free-booze-for-homeless-alcoholics-program-slammed-by-critics\/"},"modified":"2024-05-14T12:54:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T16:54:59","slug":"san-franciscos-free-booze-for-homeless-alcoholics-program-slammed-by-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-franciscos-free-booze-for-homeless-alcoholics-program-slammed-by-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics slam free alcohol program for homeless in San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsan-franciscos-free-booze-for-homeless-alcoholics-program-slammed-by-critics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2244239&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>San Francisco faces \u200bcriticism for allocating millions to a controversial program providing free alcohol \u2064to homeless alcoholics. Researchers defend the\u200b initiative, emphasizing\u2062 its effectiveness \u200din harm reduction. Keanan Joyner from UC Berkeley\u2064 supports the Managed Alcohol \u2062Program (MAP), designed to aid excessive drinkers. \u200bDespite backlash, the focus is on maintaining safe alcohol consumption\u200b levels for improved well-being.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/san-francisco\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"San Francisco\">San Francisco<\/a> is getting hammered for spending millions of dollars on a program that gives free booze to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/homelessness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"San Francisco\">homeless alcoholics<\/a>, but\u00a0researchers are insisting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israel-war-shines-a-light-on-cracks-in-the-biden-coalition\/\" title=\"Israel conflict exposes divisions in Biden coalition.\">multimillion-dollar strategy<\/a> has merit. <\/p>\n<p>Keanan Joyner, a professor and researcher in the Clinical Research on Externalizing and Addiction Mechanisms Lab at the University of <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"California\">California<\/a>, Berkeley, called San Francisco\u2019s Managed Alcohol Program, or MAP, \u201ca very positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>A homeless encampment is seen along Leavenworth Street in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. (AP Photo\/Eric Risberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe science is very clear at this point that harm reduction as a general strategy for treating alcohol and other drug use disorders is very effective,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/news\/11985941\/sf-program-isnt-just-free-beer-for-unhoused-its-backed-up-by-research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"said\">said<\/a> on Monday. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JspY2DXvIrU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"MAP\">MAP<\/a> was started four years ago as a way to care for unhoused people who drank excessively and ended up in emergency rooms, jails, or, in some cases, the morgue. <\/p>\n<p>It made headlines recently after Adam Nathan, the founder of AI marketing company Blaze and chairman of the Salvation Army San Francisco Metro Advisory Board, slammed the program for giving out free beer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s set up so people in the program just walk in and grab a beer, and then another one. All day,\u201d he posted on X. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<blockquote data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The whole thing is very odd to me and just doesn&#8217;t feel right. Providing free drugs to drug addicts doesn&#8217;t solve their problems. It just stretches them out. Where&#8217;s the recovery in all of this?<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adam Nathan \u2022 blaze.ai (@adampnathan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adampnathan\/status\/1788049243611037700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>His comments were followed by tech executive Garry Tan, who called MAP \u201charm acceleration.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>The program, which is run out of an old hotel in the city\u2019s Tenderloin district, provides housing, three meals a day, and a nurse who administers alcohol, usually vodka or beer, to keep users at a \u201csafe level of intoxication.\u201d The goal isn\u2019t to stop alcohol use but to keep it at a level that increases users\u2019 safety and overall quality of life. <\/p>\n<p>The San Francisco Department of Public Health said the program resulted in a fourfold reduction in the usage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-schumer-vows-to-fight-biden-plan-to-close-two-nyc-veterans-hospitals\/\" title=\"Sen. Schumer Vows to Fight Biden Plan to Close Two NYC Veterans Hospitals\">emergency department services<\/a>. It also said people called emergency medical services half as often and clocked a 50% reduction in the number of hospital visits. <\/p>\n<p>Nathan wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProviding free drugs to drug addicts doesn\u2019t solve their problems,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cIt just stretches them out. Where\u2019s the recovery in all of this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nathan claimed the program cost taxpayers $2 million a year, a figure that is well below the actual cost of $5 million a year, the <em>San Francisco Chronicle <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/sf-free-alcohol-homeless-19446850.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"reported\">reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Critics like Nathan have excoriated San Francisco\u2019s attempts at harm reduction, calling it a futile exercise that only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebook-still-plans-to-develop-instagram-for-kids-in-the-future\/\" title=\"Facebook Still Plans to Develop 'Instagram for Kids' in the Future\">makes things worse<\/a> in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>Groups like the Salvation Army, which promotes abstinence, have slammed the city for spending public funds on programs that provide drug users with overdose-reversing drugs such as Narcan or providing addicts with clean needles and foil for meth and fentanyl. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/london-breed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Mayor London Breed\">Mayor London Breed<\/a>, a Democrat, has even spoken out against it, and her own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gov-newsom-lifts-calif-lockdown-orders-amid-mounting-backlash\/\" title=\"Gov. Newsom lifts Calif. lockdown orders amid mounting backlash\">public health department<\/a>, by saying that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jen-psaki-says-crack-pipe-plans-are-false-smoking-kits-contain-alcohol-swabs-lip-balm-other-materials\/\" title=\"Jen Psaki Says Crack Pipe Plans Are False, Smoking Kits Contain \u2018Alcohol Swabs, Lip Balm, Other Materials\u2019\">harm reduction programs<\/a> are \u201cmaking things far worse.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tom Wolf, a heroin addict now in recovery, also has problems with the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre we just going to manage people\u2019s addictions with our taxpayer dollars in perpetuity forever?\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems like that\u2019s basically what we\u2019re saying. I think we should be spending that money on detox and recovery.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Francisco faces backlash for funding a controversial program providing free alcohol to homeless individuals. Despite criticism, researchers defend the initiative, citing its potential benefits. Keanan Joyner, a professor and researcher at UC Berkeley, supports San Francisco&#8217;s Managed Alcohol Program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2646,"featured_media":2244240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23313743166325.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23313743166325.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2646"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2244240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}