Giving beggars cash could be doing them more harm than good

IMAGES of two beggars apparently passed out on opposite sides of Dundee’s Perth Road were shocking, but for locals, not altogether surprising.

In the two years I recently lived in the West End, there were many changes — shops came and went, “For Sale” and “To Lease” boards were replaced with cafes, hairdressers and boutiques.

Roadworks appeared and disappeared, as did neighbours and the seasons.

But the one constant was a beggar close to the cash machine at the Spar.

Often it was a man — I’d guess in his twenties — who never had a book out of his hand. Hours he spent reading, while the occasional passerby gave some spare change.

Another man often in the area held a plastic book to protect his magazines from the rain and shouted “Big Issue”.

Nothing unusual there... until someone stopped to buy one, when he’d open up his folder and say he’d run out of copies.

Nine times out of 10 they’d give him a pound anyway. Locals concluded he was no more a Big Issue seller than they were.

People need money and what they do to get it is up to them.

I’d often give a coin or two myself, but there’s a limit.

We can’t say the beggars in this week’s Tele were passed out because they’d taken drugs or were drunk, but it’s probably not going too far to say there’s a good chance.

In which case, giving a pound or two in the hope they’ll use it to get a cup of tea or sandwich is futile.

We are feeding a habit that keeps them on the street, keeps them needing to feed a life-destroying pattern.

Speak with my gran and her generation and they’ll tell you things have gone too far. People used to do things to earn donations — often street art, drawing sketches in chalk on pavements.

Or singing, reciting monologues or playing an instrument.

Sitting in wait to be given cash is not “wrong” — it’s about choice.

Choice to ask for money and choice to give it. A tolerant society is something we may take pride in being, but what if that tolerance creates a danger?

If our hard-earned money is used to buy substances that make these beggars pass out, resulting in residents being scared to enter a shop or withdraw cash, then it’s gone too far.

Who takes action — the police, the city council or people power by refusing to give more money — remains to be seen.

But something must happen.

One of the beggars passed out near a shop in Perth Road.