Alcohol isn't my coping mechanism of choice. I'm also not in other people's shoes based on what they might be able to access to get through a few hours or just a day.
Sparked from "..and/or will just spend the money on booze and that's it."
Why is that "most probably"?
Btw, you can give other things than money to beggars as well. Bread or a cup of coffee, for example.
Here you can see how beggar gives money to his criminal supervisor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TrRI1QyQ8g
There's a lot of info about it on youtube, but it's mostly in Russian. Beggars in good places can get 2-3 average salaries per month and most of those money goes to criminals. It's really ugly criminal business. As an example - there's such thing as "renting" small babies - because women with babies can gather more money. They drug babies so they would lie still in the hand of beggar women. So giving money to beggars is often same as giving funds to criminals here.