[ams6110]

Talk to anyone who works at helping the homeless or impoverished, they will tell you that the vast majority of panhandlers are substance abusers looking for just enough money to get high. They are not doing it to eat (community kitchens are free) and they are not doing it to save up for something less bad.

[Fargren]

I would wager that changes a lot by locale. There are plenty of places without such a thing as community kitchen, where if you don't have money at the end of the they you are not going to eat.

And I also don't believe you are doing any favors to poor drug addicts by denying them access to drugs. The whole situation is shit, and there are forms of altruism that are much more effective than giving to panhandlers. But I have much trouble seeing it as "encouraging bad behavior". As I said, it's going to happen regardless.