'Free booze makes homeless healthier'

[unclepercy]

You Canadians sure have an imaginative way to help the homeless.

January 05 2006

Toronto - Giving homeless alcoholics a regular supply of booze may improve their health and their behaviour, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. :roll:

In a study published on Wednesday, 17 homeless adults, all with long and chronic histories of alcohol abuse, were allowed up to 15 glasses of wine or sherry a day - a glass an hour from 7am to 10pm - in the Ottawa-based programme, which started in 2002.

Rest of article: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=vn20060105074406953C152078&set_id=

Uncle

 

[paulmartin]

Ya it goes with the free crack and heroin kits.

 

[JomZ]

Well its a highly regulated, reinfoced sobriety program. Those who are so dependent on alcohol must be weened of it slowly.

Cold turkey isn't that effective and relapses are common due to the accessibility and sociability of the product.
So why not give them a little at a time (I think it starts off at 1 drink per hour) until they don't depend on it, and begin to rehabilitate themselves.

We have to do something or these people become the dregs of society. (And leaving them outside to freeze too death in the winter is not a viable option)

 

[unclepercy]

Re: RE: 'Free booze makes homeless healthier'

Well its a highly regulated, reinfoced sobriety program. Those who are so dependent on alcohol must be weened of it slowly.

Cold turkey isn't that effective and relapses are common due to the accessibility and sociability of the product.
So why not give them a little at a time (I think it starts off at 1 drink per hour) until they don't depend on it, and begin to rehabilitate themselves.

We have to do something or these people become the dregs of society. (And leaving them outside to freeze too death in the winter is not a viable option)

So...pickling their livers is better? I'm sorry, but I don't get it.
Where do you draw the line? Next thing you know, you'll be giving free candy to the obese. Well, what do I know? Just an very odd thing to me.

Uncle

 

[Timetrvlr]

Ahhh, but Uncle Percy, you didn't tell all of the story, or perhaps you didn't read it either. I'll just add it here because it makes an important point:

Now a study published in this week's edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal is raising interest in the program.

Completed by the shelter's medical director, Dr. Jeff Turnbull, the study examined the program's impact on 17 residents. Most had been alcoholics for 35 years before starting the program.

His study found:

Participants who typically drank 46 drinks a day before the program dropped to about eight drinks a day during the program.
The number of emergency room visits fell by 36 per cent.
The number of encounters with police were essentially halved, falling by 51 per cent.

I don't know about you but it makes sense to me to reduce policing costs and medical cost sustantially.