San Francisco gives alcohol and marijuana to homeless addicts on lockdown in hotels

San Francisco is providing free alcohol, marijuana and tobacco to homeless people to help them with substance abuse addictions as they quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, media outlets reported.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health said in a statement that guests staying in hotels under the city’s program are screened for substance addictions and asked if they’d like to stop or have support to reduce their use, according to SFGate. The department is also providing methadone for guests who are addicted to opioids.

“Many isolation and quarantine guests tell us they use substances daily, and this period in our care has allowed some people to connect for the first time with addiction treatment and harm reduction therapy,” SFDPH said in a statement, according to SFGate.

Harm reduction is “a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use,” according to Harm Reduction Coalition.

“Safe injection” or “supervised consumption” aren’t part of the initiative but in some circumstances, staff have helped people buy medical marijuana, SFDPH told ABC7.

The staff, however, doesn’t “facilitate purchases of recreational cannabis,” according to SFGate.

A Twitter user responded to the initiative, calling it “enabling and wrong on many levels.”

SFDPH replied on Twitter, writing: “These harm reduction based practices, which are not unique to San Francisco, and are not paid for with taxpayer money, help guests successfully complete isolation and quarantine and have significant individual and public health benefits in the COVID-19 pandemic.”

San Francisco is providing housing for homeless people who are impacted by coronavirus or are considered high-risk under the city’s COVID-19 Alternative Housing Program. The program is prioritizing people who have been diagnosed with or are recovering from COVID-19, homeless people over the age of 60, and frontline workers.

People will be sheltered in hotel rooms in order to isolate, shelter in place, or quarantine during the pandemic.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on April 18 that there were nearly 15,000 hotel rooms available to shelter homeless people statewide, The Hill reported.

Newsom said 4,211 homeless people statewide have given hotel rooms and chef José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen is providing three hotel meals a day to those being sheltered, according to The Hill.

This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 2:13 PM with the headline "San Francisco gives alcohol and marijuana to homeless addicts on lockdown in hotels."