Why do I have the feeling that all those who support this would throw a hissy fit if a private company paid in booze?
The money, IMO, would be more useful going towards recovery programs. I've never heard of any problem being solved with continual use. You don't quit smoking by continuing to smoke cigarettes. You don't get off heroin by continuing to inject heroin. But that's only if the goal is to kick the addiction. If the goal is to continue the addiction and exhaust the healthcare resources that these people will eventually end up using, then it seems like a good start. If both ends (the funding and the receiving) were voluntary, who am I to tell people what they can't accept as payment?
Thank you. My only beef is that it's a government program. I wouldn't advocate it either way, but this is disgusting.
These people, at the time of entering this program have no desire to change. They are often people who have refused all other kinds of help, bother people on the streets, getting arrested and released again, etc. They want to be obnoxious alcoholics. Of course you don't solve alcoholism with continued use of alcohol, but these people are going to drink either way. The aim is to give them something to do other than hanging out on the streets causing nuisances with their alcoholic buddies. Then hopefully if you change their environment and daily activities, you may change their mindset and also reduce their negative impacts on the city. I don't think the article posted here really mentions this much, but the results have been pretty good. The alcholics are becoming healthier and happier and the areas where they used to hang out are a lot calmer and cleaner.
Rothbard - 5. Take Back the Streets: Get Rid of the Bums. Again: unleash the cops to clear the streets of bums and vagrants. Where will they go? Who cares? Hopefully, they will disappear, that is, move from the ranks of the petted and cosseted bum class to the ranks of the productive members of society.
That doesn't work very well at all. You can't just beat the alcoholic out of someone. Or the homelessness for that matter. Especially that, actually.
It's taken out of context. He's referring to a situation in which that is private property. It's like if there were homeless people on your front porch. A theoretical construction. I'm not sure I agree with it, but you should at least give a little background.
Btw Running, kudos to you for your recovery. I have a close family member who is a psychotherapist who specializes in addiction treatment and s/he tells me it's no easy feat getting straight and staying off the poison.
Thanks guys. Sorry for getting borderline insulting and dramatic, but this is a topic I get really emotional about. Being an active alcoholic is no party.