Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Roger Bertrand lines up, mug in hand, at an Ottawa homeless shelter at 7:30 every morning to get a free pick-me-up: white wine.

``I can get only a shot an hour,'' says Bertrand, 45, an alcoholic and former mechanic who credits the free-drinks program at the Shepherds of Good Hope with reducing his consumption by half. ``I don't drink beer, just the house wine. Next it will be Nestle's Quik.''

Canada is spending about C$400 million ($349 million) over three years to get homeless people like Bertrand off the streets. The Shepherds of Good Hope program, which costs about C$231,000 a year, tries to help alcoholics cut back, drink in a safe environment and avoid hospital visits or clashes with police.

The shelter has found homeless alcoholics taking part in the program reduced their intake by 80 percent after 16 months. Bertrand, for example, was downing as many as five bottles of whisky or Chinese wine a day before he joined the plan four months ago.

``This is a last-ditch attempt to try and control a very long-standing problem in some people,'' said Dr. Tiina Podymow of the University of Ottawa. Homelessness is ``a very dangerous lifestyle. The approach was to try to reduce harm without demanding abstinence.''

Not All Agree

The approach used by the shelter runs counter to that of groups such as the Salvation Army and the U.S. government-funded National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which encourage abstinence to fight the disease.

Podymow's research is the first controlled study in the world to determine whether monitored drinking can help alcoholics reduce their dependency. Other Canadian shelters began allowing drinks after a 1996 coroner's report suggested that an alcohol ban played a role in the freezing deaths of three homeless people during winter in Toronto. Seaton House, a Toronto shelter, now allows people to drink and to exchange non-potable alcohol such as mouthwash and cologne for beer.

Some clinics in the U.S. use methadone, a synthetic narcotic, to help heroin addicts kick their habit. And a shelter in Vancouver offers free needles so that heroin users can inject their drugs in a safe environment.

The participants in the Ottawa study made 35 percent fewer trips to emergency rooms and had about half as many altercations with police after entering the program, Podymow and Dr. Jeff Turnbull wrote in a report published last month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Results 'Promising'

``The results were very promising,'' said Podymow, who helped start the program in 2001. ``But it's a small study, and it warrants further investigation.''

Some charitable groups that help addicts will never be swayed by evidence that programs like these can be effective, said James Baumohl, a social work professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania who used to run a homeless shelter. Most agencies think of addiction in terms of moral values and argue it shouldn't be made sustainable, he said.

``We're not condemning the folks that are doing it -- we just can't do it on our site, because it goes against what our stance is,'' said Perry Rowe, the executive director of the Salvation Army's Ottawa Booth Centre. The center includes a shelter for 168 men and a treatment facility for addicts.

Unlike at the Salvation Army, Shepherds' residents get a room, which they share with up to three others, meals and alcohol in exchange for their monthly welfare check. The residents can drink the white wine made on the premises, or bring their own beer. During the day, they watch television, play cards, clean, cook, read and paint. There's no restriction on going outside, Podymow said.

Savings in Health Care

``Since I've been here I gained 18 pounds, so I'm getting healthier every day,'' said Bertrand, who wants to return to work. ``I didn't think I'd like it here, but I really do.''

Fewer visits to the hospital and scuffles with the police help offset part of the cost. The program spends C$771 a month on each participant and saves governments C$447 in health-care and other related costs, the team found.

At normal shelters, people ``get good and drunk in the evening and the first thing they have to do in the morning is go out and find another source of alcohol,'' said Ken Kraybill in Seattle, who runs the training program of the U.S. National Health Care for the Homeless Council network. ``That ends up creating visits to the ER.''

The Ottawa program also has been a hit in the Byward Market neighborhood where the shelter is located, near the city's busiest bars and restaurants and a 15-minute walk from the Parliament buildings. In the two years since Georges Bedard has been city councilor for the area, he's had only one complaint about the free-drink program.

``If it remains as successful as it's been and if it helps lower their alcoholism level, it's a good thing,'' Bedard said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at adeslongcham@bloomberg.net .