An evaluation of a Halifax program that prescribes alcohol to people who have struggled with homelessness and alcohol dependency is showing positive results — but it’s had a surprising side effect.

Participants were bored.

“They didn’t need to spend so much time during the day — like mental energy, physical energy — just trying to make money to purchase the alcohol,” Candis Lepage, a Dalhousie University medical student who conducted the evaluation, told CBC Radio’s Information Morning Nova Scotia.

“So their day wasn’t really revolving around sourcing it anymore, and that kind of creates a really big gap when you’ve been doing that for so long.”

The Managed Alcohol Program out of the North End Community Health Centre started in June 2020. It administers pre-set daily doses of beer or wine to clients who are homeless and also dependent on alcohol.

The program aims to reduce harm and move people onto a path to stability and away from the cycle of homelessness.

Read more here:

CBC News
May 9, 2023