Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland..

31 Jan 2012 / #61

the solution would be to bring them to sleep (injection)

Another solution that is being tried here in California is serving wine in homeless shelters. Each patron is allowed one glass of wine per hour. It seems it is the Canadians who pioneered this "wet" approach to the problem:

alcoholrehabcenter.com/content/8177/wine-served-to-ottawa-alcoholics-in-harm.php

From the Wiki article on "Harm Reduction.":

The program has been duplicated in other Canadian cities and a study of Ottawa's "wet shelter" found that emergency room visit and police encounters by clients were cut by half.[46] The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2006 found that serving chronic street alcoholics controlled doses of alcohol also reduced their overall alcohol consumption.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction

pam

31 Jan 2012 / #62

I personally don't give money to beggars but if I can I often buy them some food

last time i was in poland a woman approached me with her toddler, and asked for milk for her.tbh the toddler looked pretty healthy,i told her i would buy some milk for her child, but i wouldnt give her money. i went to a shop and bought some milk for her child. she was happy enough and didnt complain, so i guess no-one should be too judgemental..you just dont know peoples circumstances...

I wouldn't buy them food because that is what shelters and charities are supposed to provide

except there isnt enough money to go round to provide for everyone, otherwise we would have a lot less homeless.obviously.

beckski 12 | 1609

1 Feb 2012 / #63

California is serving wine in homeless shelters

I would imagine the shelters need to card some individuals, to verify they are within the legal drinking age. Many homeless people are teenage runaways. The shelters may be at risk of contributing to juvenile deliquency, if they don't ask their clients to provide a valid identification, before distributing beverages with alcohol content.