San Francisco Frustration- Homeless Junkies Don’t Follow the Rules

The City of San Franciso decided to pass out free hotel rooms, booze, tobacco, and prescription drugs to homeless people amid the pandemic. Now they are wondering why homeless people from all over the state are calling them and demanding a free hotel room. It’s San Francisco frustration all across the board.

The city of San Francisco adopted the plan after a large outbreak of COVID-19 occurred at Moscone West,  a venue they were using to house the homeless.

They called it “Project Room Key” and was meant to help the homeless “shelter in place” during the pandemic. They are using empty hotel rooms for the homeless.  It is funded privately through donations, not by the city, to the tune of $200 per day per hotel room. The original intent was to help the homeless manage their addictions while isolating from the pandemic. Each of the people do have access to such assistance. But is that what really happened?

USA Today tried to shore up the idea:

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SFDPH called the policy an “evidence-based harm reduction strategy” meant to prevent guests from leaving quarantine to seek out substances.

“Managed alcohol and tobacco use makes it possible to increase the number of guests who stay in isolation and quarantine and, notably, protects the health of people who might otherwise need hospital care for life-threatening alcohol withdrawal,” SFDPH wrote.

SFDPH Director Dr. Grant Colfax addressed the controversial policy during a May 6 news conference.

“Our philosophy, in terms of treating people who suffer from addiction substance use disorders, is really again focused on science and the medical literature which shows that a harm reduction approach which includes the continuum, from supporting abstinence and recovery to helping people who continue to use to reduce their harms. Meeting them where they are so that they can be cared for in the most appropriate way, in a way that is good for them and for our community.”  

“Good for the community?” Or are they actually enabling the behavior instead of eradicating it?

San Francisco frustration

“It’s been very challenging to get even some of the residents who are part of the shelter system and our hotels to comply with the orders, to even wear masks. It’s been so much harder to really care for this population especially when they won’t comply with simple directions or the orders we’re implementing…it’s an “incredible logistical challenge.” Mayor London Breed

Duh.

So the homeless folks get three square meals a day, pot, prescription drugs like methadone, and alcohol to work the “evidence-based harm reduction.”  Sweet deal, except perhaps for the hotel owners. San Francisco frustration?

Daniel Greenfield wrote:

In San Francisco, you can’t smoke in restaurants or bars (back when they were open), in public parks (when you could visit them), or near open doorways (back when people still left them open), and smoking in hotels was almost impossible, but now San Francisco has thousands of smoking hotel rooms.

All it took was a pandemic and a bunch of characters from a Tom Wolfe novel running the city.

And, best of all, the same Health Department waging a campaign against smoking is providing the tobacco, along with “medical cannabis”, and “medically appropriate amounts of alcohol”.

Don’t worry folks, it’s all medicinal.

The San Francisco Health Department claims that handing out drugs and booze to junkies with coronavirus is actually a “harm reduction practice” that has “significant individual and public health benefits”.

That’s a hell of a public health benefit.