Seattle is trying a different alternative that seems to be working. It purchased a cheap hotel, and confirmed alcoholics can stay in it free of charge instead of living on the street. No effort is made at rehabilitation, and they are given free food, and have an on-call nurse available for routine medical care.
And it saves the taxpayers a LOT of money, costing just a fifth of what it would cost otherwise in emergency services, police and other problems.
Though it would save even more money by providing them with grain alcohol and mixer drinks to lessen stomach damage, they have balked at the idea, as they figure both that the public would not stand for it, and that it would attract more alcoholics from other cities.
Surprisingly, there has been another benefit, in that it has been noted that the alcoholics are drinking less on their own, and have improved nutrition so need less regular medical care on top of much less emergency medical care. The police and emergency rooms are also much happier having to deal with them far less often.
The bottom line is two things. The first is that the public do not enjoy seeing drunks dying in the gutters. The second is the recognition that trying to force alcoholics to not be alcoholics doesn’t work, so it’s better to just minimize the expense.
I agree with that statement.
What works best for us is what matters. As long as we are being reasonable humane, of course.