Bravo to San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is ending a ridiculous city program that spent $5 million a year to provide booze to homeless alcoholics.
It sounds like an insane idea to begin with, but the original thought behind the “Managed Alcohol Program” (MAP) seems to have been that keeping homeless people drunk would keep them from going through withdrawal and heading to emergency rooms.
It was never a good idea to give homeless people more of the very thing that kept many of them homeless — and to provide incentives for other alcoholics to hit the streets.
The program only served 55 people — at an average bar tab of $454,000 for each homeless alcoholic.
Lurie’s move is good for San Francisco — and good for the homeless, who need help getting sober, not help staying drunk.
In the background, there is a serious debate about what kinds of services to provide homeless addicts. Needle exchange programs, for example, may allow homeless people to stay hooked — but could also protect them from deadly disease.
Regardless, San Francisco has taken these programs too far. Under Lurie’s predecessor, London Breed, San Francisco ran open-air “safe use” areas, where addicts could get high under city supervision.
There is a point at which tolerance is too much. The city should not be enabling addiction. And taxpayers should not be footing the bar tab.
Lurie’s decision to end MAP is another hopeful sign of reform He has a long way to go before he has fixed San Francisco’s problems. He is still facing a $1 billion budget deficit, for example.
But Luriehas put the interest of residents first. He has also taken a moderate tone in disagreements with the federal government, leading to better outcomes.
Mayor Lurie has shown simple common sense in axing this “alcohol for alcoholics” program — a quality seen far too rarely among our local leaders.
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