Sunday, November 3, 2013

Program To Aid Public Drinkers Debuting In Uptown


From the Tribune:
John Pfeiffer, deputy commissioner of Family and Support Services. also said the department is planning to launch a pilot program to engage people drinking on the street in Uptown "to provide them with more information about available detox and treatment programs, to help them come in off the street, address their substance use problem and (help them) move forward productively. It's an effort to try to wrap services around them on the street where they are drinking and where they use drugs."

Ald. James Cappleman, 46th, a former social worker still known to hit the streets to try to persuade chronic alcohol and drug abusers to get help, said he pushed for the program.

"We have people in this small area who have hundreds of arrests, and arresting them over and over again is not working," Cappleman said.  He cited the case of one chronic drinker, saying she calls ambulances twice a day.  "The cost of that is probably well over $1 million a year, for that individual," Cappleman said.

"This is where police and social services are working hand in hand together," he added. "That has never happened in the city of Chicago to that extent."
We'd be happy to give DFSS a few hints about where to find the biggest concentrations of public drinkers: Kenmore and Argyle (pictured); Wilson and Broadway; Montrose and Sheridan.... where else does this take place 24/7?

14 comments:

  1. As long as it's legal to buy cigarets, alcohol and bail out pals with the link card it's an uphill battle. When House Bill 2784 failed to pass here in Illinois we all lost, especially those we enable with our generous tax dollars.

    ReplyDelete
  2. These winos know where the help is. Many have been through the treatment merry go round to stay out of jail. Maybe they should crack down on the liquor & convenience stores that sell them the fortified wine and malt liquor w/ 12% alcohol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How do you crack down on a local business who is selling to a customer to make a profit?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I highly doubt this will make any change-

    ReplyDelete
  5. There are literally thousands of AA meetings a month in the Chicago land area. They know where they can go. Selling liquor while someone is visibly intoxicated is illegal & dangerous. Yet it happens all the time. They should outlaw the half pints like they do the little "airplane bottles" of booze in the city also.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How do AA meetings change a culture? "They" know where to go? Where is this place exactly. Sounds like a magically pace. AL how about giving a hand instead of making a blanket statement.

      Delete
  6. AA is kind of a magical place. There is something that you get at an AA meeting that you don't get anywhere else on this earth... a spiritual (not religious) solution, given freely from others who know personally about the obsession to drink alcohol. It's true that most alcoholics who have progressed to the point where they're drinking on the street have already been exposed to AA meetings, or at least know of them, and probably could tell you where the meetings are, or wouldn't have to make much of an effort to find one. Although the program is anonymous, it's not secret or hidden. When a person is ready for the solution, have hit their bottom and know in their heart, head and gut that alcohol is THE problem, then they are ready for the solution, and they can achieve sobriety by working the 12 steps and with the support of the fellowship found in the meetings. As I like to say, when you're ready - a little bit of effort goes a long, long way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but AA seems very religious. For example, from some of the original wordings:

      Step 2: Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
      Step 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
      Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
      Step 6: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
      Step 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
      Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

      I have heard that there have been newer "adaptations" to these steps which generalize God with simply spirituality in an attempt to be more all inclusive. That being said, many of these steps (regardless of the wording) sound to me like ways of denying accountability (read steps 1,2,3, and 6) and waiting for a spiritual power, God, or some existential force to "fix" you (read steps 2,3,6,7 and 11). Undoubtedly these people need help, however I remain skeptical of 12 step programs for a number of reasons, and I also question if the average alcoholic or drug addict on the street is feeling very in touch with higher powers and spirituality (beyond higher "powders" and liquid spirits). Just my 2 cents, but I favor less religious programs that focus on accountability, the power to change yourself (rather than being powerless as AA suggests) and filling life with positive activities/roles that may or may not include a God.

      Delete
    2. I find it funny that you "favor" one program over another, but your use of the term "these people" suggests that you haven't used any of them yourself.

      AA is spiritual, not religious. I've had to wiggle around that myself, as I am not a Christian, and I choose not to say the Lords Prayer if that's the one that the group says at the end of the meeting, but prefer the more inclusive "Serenity Prayer."

      Regardless of anyone's belief or non-belief, using the tools of the program, which do include prayer and meditation among others, has helped countless hundreds of thousands of people recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.

      There are atheists and agnostics in AA, and many of them pray anyway. Don't know what else to tell you, the program does work.

      It's a false assumption that the program fosters denial of accountability. In fact, steps 4 through 10 are very much focused on personal inventory and making direct amends to people who have been harmed by our alcoholism.

      As for the "average alcoholic or drug addict on the street" or in bars, cars, houses, schools, churches, on jobs, etc. feeling in touch with higher power, um... that's kind of the point. That's the purpose of working the steps. # 12 says "Having had a spiritual awakening, as the result of these steps..." When we are spiritually "humming" (my personal beliefs are entwined with the notions of vibration and color) we are relieved of the obsession to drink. You have to get in the zone :)

      Delete
  7. I live on this block and it is frustrating that police are all over this street for the night markets, but drive right by this mess every other time. There are one or two buildings south of Argyle on Kenmore where the tenants empty out in the morning to spend their days drinking on the street and wandering around the neighborhood urinating on our lawns and leaving trash and broken bottles on our sidewalks and curbs. I would be curious to know how much money in government assistance is going to pay the rent, utilities and daily drug and liquor purchases. What is wrong with making people prove through testing that they aren't on illegal drugs if they want to keep the free housing that we all pay for? And if they struggle to stay clean, put them in a rehab center instead of a flop house.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It actually costs more government $$ to put someone on the streets when you kick them out of housing, what with extra police calls, hospital visits, etc., than keeping them housed. In Florida the real winner of the drug testing for welfare has been the drug testing firms- way more spent to test than money saved by the deterrence and low failure rate. The problems are not simply solved- hopefully the engagement of DFSS will help reduce the harm.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jorge, they've tried that in FL already. It costs way more to administer and process all those drug tests than they save in denied public assistance. They had less than a 2% hit rate when they tried it in Florida. It's a waste of money and human resources.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jorge, I agree. The police seem to lay down the law in the evening hours. Yet, when I walk my dog in the early morning/afternoon, there are public drinkers everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I have to give the alderman credit. He admits there are Uptown vagrants that have hundreds of arrests! This issue of "public intoxication" is the crime that leads to the shootings. When will the community realize it?

    ReplyDelete