What do Fyodor Dostoevsky and John
Dunsmore, who plays Mr Lahey on the Trailer Park
Boys, have in common? An addiction to gambling that
nearly ruined their lives.
The plight of the problem gambler
is as old as money and games. But ever since governments
became the dealers, ethical concerns have intruded on
the fun. Nowhere is this more true than Canada, where
public healthcare is, claim the provincial governments,
partly funded by lottery profits. But at what cost?,
wonders the article "Gambling:
governments' dangerous addiction" on page 26, which
examines the relationship between gambling and suicide.
A shocking new survey of BC casino
workers reveals that the problem has got so bad there
that addicted gamers regularly wear diapers to the slot
machines so they don't have to interrupt their play
to pee. Staffers report severe discomfort at serving
people who clearly have a problem.
Perhaps most disturbingly, the
BC government sat on these survey results for three
years, only releasing them on May 2, against their will,
because of an access to information order. The survey
was conducted partly to gauge the need for more addiction
interventionists. BC reportedly brings in $800 million
from gambling, but plans only to spend $8 million on
mental health provisions for addicts in 2007-2008.
Medicine is caught at the crossroads
of the contradictory relationship between the government
as poker dealer and citizens/patients as addicts. Calls
for increased funding for mental health issues like
suicide — and, this month, benchmarks for mental
health wait times (see "New
blood for Wait Time Alliance" on page 16) —
sound a little hollow when the government itself is
luring some patients to their doom.
There can be happy endings for
gamblers. Both Fyodor Dostoevsky and John Dunsmore overcame
their addictions. In a strange twist in Mr Dostoevsky's
life story, his great-grandson Dimitri was last year
forced to sue the Russian lottery corporation after
he learned it was using Fyodor's image on its lottery
tickets.
Mr Dunsmore now campaigns for the
abolition of VLTs in Nova Scotia, even as studies show
internet gambling is already taking its toll on teens.
The governments must deal with
their own addiction to gambling revenues, because, as
the Trailer Park Boys' Mr Lahey might say, "There's
a sh%# storm brewing." — Gillian Woodford, Editor
|
