Well, the Royal Navy used the same concept and conquered the world, so maybe ….

Rum, Buggery and the lash: San Francisco is handing out free drinks to its winos, 4X a day

The City of San Francisco is handing out bottles of beer, glasses of wine and shots of vodka to homeless alcoholics - and spending $5m a year on the program. 

The alcoholic drinks are served by nurses as part of the city's 'managed alcohol program', which has been running for four years, as a way of taking care of vulnerable homeless people. 

The program is designed to curb the amount of alcohol homeless people drink. It still allows them some, but in a more managed way, in the hope of curbing their addiction in a controlled manner. 

I know quite a few alcoholics, active and recovering, and I don’t think either group would say that 4 shots of vodka a day was (a) adequate for active alcoholics; or (b) do anything except keep the home fires burning, and spur them to go out looking for more fuel.

Then again, I’m no scientist, and can’t even grasp the San Francisco science that tells us there are 363 different sexes, so what do I know?

any port in a storm — the high life on san francisco bay