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Preventionn of Problem Gambling
March 2000, Vol III, Issue 3

*A Monthly Newsletter on Problem Gambling Prevention Information, Research, and Initiatives*

"No progress has ever been made against an epidemic by treating only the casualties."

READERS FORUM RESPONSES

Planning Alternative Activities for Youth: Two responses to the questions posed in our last edition.

Having worked in prevention for nearly 20 years, I was intrigued by the question regarding whether preventionists should support an appropriate use model or a zero tolerance model as it relates to teen gambling.

This is an issue that has been raised in many prevention arenas involving youth from alcohol use to sexual activity. The strength of the appropriate use model is that it is a risk reduction strategy based in the reality that a majority of high school students are already involved in some gambling activity. The strength of the zero tolerance or abstinence model is that other prevention efforts, most notably nicotine use prevention, have found that postponing age of onset of an addictive or otherwise harmful behavior is indeed preventative in that it lowers risk of unhealthy involvement in the activity. Although I don't know if this has been studied for gambling, it is probably a safe assumption that raising the age of onset for teen gambling will indeed lower the risk of harmful involvement in gambling.

Therefore, the task of the preventionists would be to support non-involvement in gambling for teens while offering other strategies to reduce the risk for middle and late adolescents who do gamble.

Frederick Smith, Director of Prevention Services, ETP, Inc., East Hartford, CT

New England Problem Gambling Helplines:
- CT 800-346-6238
- MA 800-426-1234
- RI 877-9-GAMBLE
- VT 888-822-8274

The staff of the Prevention of Problem Gambling Newsletter is very interested in your opinions on the questions posed.

You asked in your February issue if there were any appropriate gambling activities for teens. There are three messages that we like to give to youth that address both the abstinence and risk reduction models. They are:

Abstinence or non-gambling is a safe and acceptable lifelong decision many people choose to make and the one with the lowest risk.

We do not want you to do any gambling before you are legally allowed to do so and we do not want you to gamble illegally ever.

While abstinence can be a lifelong decision, if you choose to gamble when you are legally allowed to do so, we would like you to do so safely and appropriately with as little risk as possible.

These messages are clear, concise and consistent and can be offered to our children simultaneously as they are not mixed.

Roger Svendsen, Director of Program Development and Gambling Resource Center, Minnesota Institute of Public Health

A Reminder to Register Now:

5th New England Conference on Problem Gambling
Problem Gambling: Is it Still Invisible?!
Marriott - Providence, Rhode Island
April 27, 2000