Editor’s Note: We tend to rail on the City and County of San Francisco.

The NY Post reports that the City is spending millions of dollars to provide essential products to the homeless of the city. Given San Francisco’s climate and terrain, it would seem reasonable that the City is giving the indigent better shelter, warm clothing, perhaps even free bus and light-rail passes.

But no: the City and County of San Francisco is providing the vast numbers of jobless, often mentally-ill and drug-addicted, squatters on the streets something much more important. The city government has budgeted $5 million dollars to buy booze for their homeless population. Vodka and beer, specifically.

I think (we don’t drink alcohol here at TPOL) those are the ingredients of a boilermaker? Is that right?

Whatever it is, apparently a homeless man or woman (or child?) can be given one or more free alcoholic drinks daily simply by going to a participating business.

(We ask about children because we know that the rulers of San Francisco (and most of California) do not want identification to be required. At least for voting. And getting services and free food. So, will they keep minors from the comforts of inbibing alcohol?)

(While we are at it we need to ask why the booze is only beer and vodka? Why not wine? That is, after all, the most common alcoholic beverage produced (famously) in California. Do the Supervisors have something against Sonoma and all the other wine-producing regions of their own State?

And here is another question: does the San Francisco budget for this wonderful gesture of concern, compassion, and care include some very important things?

1. Urgent care and emergency medical care for those who over-medicate themselves with both what they can get from the City and what they can scrounge on their own?
2. Medical care for the accidents caused by those under the influence of City-furnished booze? While I understand that most homeless do not own or operate cars or motorcycles, many have bicycles. And car theft is also a concern. And we know that in San Francisco, at least some vehicle accidents are caused by pedestrians. At least of whom would be DUI if driving.
3. Excise taxes – will San Francisco (as a governmental body) be exempt from paying the excise and sales taxes on the booze provided, to Sacramento and to DC? Or will they stretch their budget by buying tax-exempt beverage alcohol?

Given the disruptive influence of alcohol-imbibing people both individually and in groups, is the SFPD prepared to deal with more incidents?

Remember that “excise taxes” have been pushed for much of a century as “sin taxes” because they believe that – even more than perhaps with tobacco taxes and taxes on “other recreational drugs” – those buying the stuff should be made to pay for the damages to individuals and society caused.

(Wasn’t that the justification for the massive taxes on recreational, if not medical, cannabis in California? Taxes so high that the unlicensed, untaxed “illegal” pot still is more popular than legal marijuana?)

Now, we admit that a beer or a shot of vodka by themselves isn’t enough to make someone “drunk” in the eyes of the law. And may have minimal impact on the health of the homeless persons getting the free booze. But are they going to limit themselves to just the free drink? And is San Francisco going to limit the freebies? Without ID, will people be able to behave like WalMart or Costco and go from one free “sample” vendor to another?

But if the Board of Supervisors (and by implication the taxpayers of San Francisco) consider beverage alcohol to be an essential of life, what else might the taxpayers of the city be made to pay for in the future? They already have free food, free medical care, at least some free housing. Free counseling and drug addiction help? (Not that many seem to take those things.) What else? Free cannabis? Free porn? Free sex? It could be quite a list.

Or perhaps, the powers-that-be are more conniving than we think? For example, are they trying to deal with alcoholism among the homeless by adding Antabuse to the free booze? Or adding wood alcohol to the vodka? Of course not – and how dare we even think of such a thing! Governments, especially in California, are so caring, so compassionate, so concerned about The People that every live matters. Especially black lives, of course. But every life. Right?