Free Booze Helps the Homeless
Here’s a weird one for you… A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal has concluded that providing homeless alcoholics with access to free alcohol can reduce run-ins with the law as well as hospital trips. Participants in this study were supplied with fifteen glasses of wine or sherry per day (one an hour from 7AM to 10PM) and, after an average of 16 months, the number of times participants got in trouble with the law had fallen 51 percent from the three years before they joined the program, and hospital emergency room visits were down 36 percent. Hmmm… Open bar as a social program. Now why didn’t I think of that?
[Source: CNN.com]
Published on January 11th, 2006 - 10 Comments
Filed under: Miscellany
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
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Tip It!
January 11th, 2006 at 7:02 am
I’m never amazed at some of the crazy things people come up with!!!
And no, I didn’t find this post as a result of googling “Free Booze”.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Free booze for alcoholics…
Free money for gamblers…
Free Macs for…
January 11th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Free Macs for… addicts?
January 11th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Wait until they get liver cirrhosis from drinking 15 drinks a day for X years, then see how the hospital emergency room visits increase…
January 11th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Did they offer free donuts for cops?
January 11th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
Actually, this program was running in my neck of the woods in Ottawa. Too bad I did not know about it, otherwise, I would have found a way to sign up!
January 12th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Jim — You can have liver problems from drinking that little?
January 12th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I have no idea, I’ve avoid drinking in moderation since it’s a waste of time.
January 21st, 2006 at 2:43 pm
If only we had this while I was in college, I would probably have more money socked away. Then again, we weren’t really sherry drinkers.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Well, just wait until the homeless people sue for liver damage or other health concerns. They’ll win so much money in court, they won’t be homeless anymore!