Treating alcoholics - with wine

The recommended treatment for chronic alcoholism is abstinence. But at the Oaks - a permanent home for those who once lived on the streets - residents are given a measure of wine at hourly intervals. It is called the Managed Alcohol Program, and aims to change the drinking behaviour of inveterate addicts.

In a converted hotel in the west of the city of Ottawa, a quiet, orderly queue snakes around the reception area. The men and women are mostly middle-aged or older. Some of them use sticks, walkers or wheelchairs, their health fragile after a lifetime of booze. But it is their hands that stand out - scarred, bruised or swollen, their fingernails chipped or bitten to the quick. All clutch a cup, mug, glass or flask. Any receptacle will do.

At exactly half past the hour, what's known as "the pour" begins. A measure of Californian white - 13% alcohol, made on the premises - is measured into a jug from a draft tap behind the counter. One at a time, the wine is dispensed to nearly 50 alcoholics. For the first pour at 7.30am, most residents get a kickstarter of 7oz - nearly 200ml, a larger-than-average sized glass of wine in Europe. For the rest of the day until 9.30pm, they are given 5oz - just over 140ml.
Elisa Pewheoalook is next in line, a white ceramic cup at the ready. He is from Pond Inlet, an Inuit town in Canada's north, and has been drinking for 40 of his 53 years - a life blighted by alcohol.
"It's not bad, the wine here," he says. "Out on the streets I was drinking mouthwash, hairspray. It didn't taste good, but all I wanted was the effect. I don't drink that stuff anymore - it makes me feel sick to think of it. And I drink much less here."
If anyone shows signs of intoxication, they will not be served.
"It doesn't happen very often, but if they're drunk, I ask them to go to their room and take a nap," says Lucia Ali, one of the frontline staff at the Oaks who works the bar.

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