Against the Odds

The Methodist Church and The Salvation Army have written "Against the Odds" which is an overview and critique of the 2005 Gambling Act in the UK. "Against the Odds" is designed to inform people about some of the issues to do with gambling, and what action people can take if they want to do something to help problem gamblers. The document can be downloaded from their website but also from the Church of Scotland's website.

Drugs. What is the reality?

The Scottish Government Strategy The Road to Recovery has a good compendium of headline figures on the problems that drug use causes in Scotland. That report notes: "Scotland has a long-standing and serious drug problem...the scale of the problem is unacceptably high. It is a significant driver of economic underperformance, crime, risk to children and health inequalitites." The impact of the misuse of drugs is not merely on the user. It has a huge impact on family life, particularly on children and on the wider community of the drug user through both anti-social behaviour and criminality.

Having recognised the size of the problem and the relative inneffectiveness of the various approaches to the problem, the Scottish Government outlined what it saw as a new approach."Central to the strategy is a new approach to tackling drug use based on the concept of recovery. Recovery is a process through which an individual is enabled to move on from their problem drug use towards a drug-free life and become an active and contributing member of society". The separation between the two conflicting approaches of abstinence and harm reduction is dismissed as a false dichotomy with the true goal being recovery. That requires the whole of people's lives to be addressed and not merely their drug use in isolation.



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What shall we do as Christians?

What should we do and say now?
As members of the Church, there are actions we can and should take to respond to the rapid industrialisation of gambling in our country. As individuals, congregations, Presbyteries and as a Church we should:
 Contribute to a wider and more open debate, challenging the growth of the gambling culture in our country and exposing the false hope of gambling as a route out of poverty;
 Continue to argue for regulation to provide maximum protection to vulnerable groups and in particular better enforcement of regulation to the lower end of gaming;
 Seek Government funding for ongoing research into the impact of the new regulatory framework in general and casinos in particular; gambling prevalence; public attitudes and the extent and nature of addictions and problem gambling;
 Urge Government funding and support for education programmes in schools and elsewhere which teach about probability, risk and more specific lessons about gambling;
 Urge funding for those organisations supporting problem gamblers; and
 Support those who suffer from gambling addiction, both directly and indirectly.


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