PEOPLE ARE DYING DUE TO GAMBLING ADDICTION

I do not want any more people to die due to gambling. 

In the Province of B.C. the number of suicides due to gambling have increased and will continue to do so.  This is true all across Canada.
No one is speaking up for these people.  They died because they could not face the shame of their gambling addiciton and no one is listening.  How cheaply do we now hold life if we sit back and do nothing?
The Province is thrilled to have all the revenue that gambling generates, and professes to provide help to those that are addicted.  And it is true that there is councilling available to those that can find it.  it is free to compulsive gamblers and their spouses.  But it is hard to find and takes effort.  The gambling hot line numbers you see in casinos are a start, but the process is not a one stop shop.  In addiction we have seen self banning as an alternative.  This has proven so ineffective that law suits are pending because people have continued to gamble and no one has challenged them.  And people have died.

It is also true that compulsive gamblers can get help through Gamblers Anonymous - a self help program that has been in existance since 1957.  These groups are not funded and are everywhere.  Their doors are open to all and they have helped people to quit.  Unfortunately people usually go to G.A. when they are at the lowest point.  Sometimes that point is having lost literally everything; money, family, friends and employment.  They may also be one step away from suicide.

But this is not enough to stem the tide that has arisen due to the expansion of gambling and it's prevalence in society.

I am not an advovcate of banning gambling.  I am an advocvate of telling the truth about the risks of gambling.

This is what I want to see.  I want to see awareness advertised as well as promotion.  I want to see advertising on TV and radio of what can happen to someone if they become addicted.  I want to save lives.  I want to give the borderline gambler a chance to see what will happen when they cross the line.  I want them to know the truth. 

We have seen the horrors of drugs and smoking, we are relentlessly told of what harm these can do to our health.  Do we ever hear of the horror stories around gambling?  Do we hear about someone walking into a bathroom at a casino and finding a woman who had hung herself in a cubicle?  Because she could no longer deal with her addiction?

The truth is ugly and it is being withheld.  This might seem ok if you are running a business where the government is not involved.  But when it is, I believe that we as citizens should have the right to expect the truth of the dangers of uncontrolled gambling.

Imagine how this would impact you if you had a spouse, sibling, parent, or child that was addicted.  Maybe you do not understand because you cannot imagine how this happened.  How could someone throw away everything in order to gamble? But the truth is, if you know someone who goes to the Casino, or gambles more than you think normal, the chances are they are on their way to devastation.

Someone has to stand for those who have already given their lives to this demon.
I do not want any more people to die.