THE SAFETY NET

Editor -- Earl Rynerson's Open Forum piece, "We Kill Them With Kindness,"
(December 15) uses the city's collective support of programs for the poor
to build his case for denying General Assistance to homeless drug addicts
and alcoholics. He also implies that the vast majority of General
Assistance recipients spend their benefits on drugs or alcohol.

He does not allow that these services and benefits are a lifeline for
thousands of poor families and seniors, people living with AIDS, and
homeless people who are clean and sober. He also does not acknowledge how
difficult it is to kick an addiction, and that many homeless and drug
addicts and alcoholics suffer from mental illness.

He outlines a neatly defined problem and offers a neatly packaged solution
- - - to deny public assistance to these men and women until they get clean.
This plan pushes us down a slippery slope toward a place where other
behaviors may be suspect and we are suspect if we are compassionate.

The San Francisco Food Bank distributes food to more than 400 after-school
programs, AIDS service providers, battered women's shelters, neighborhood
food pantries, drug treatment programs, shelters and soup kitchens.

Should we cease to provide food to these agencies if they refuse to test
their clients?

San Francisco's social safety net is diminished and fragile, but it is
helping to meet the basic needs of our poorest residents.

Among these people are homeless drug addicts and alcoholics. We are not
supporting their habits; we are enabling them to live.

PAUL ASH Executive Director San Francisco Food Bank