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Letter: More gambling, more addiction

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While reading and agreeing with Rex Smith's column "Count your cash before casino opens," June 1, regarding casino gambling, my experience for the past 54 years of working with addictions is: I've seen an amazing increase in the number of clients caught in the net of what we now call entertainment.

Working with the homeless, criminal justice and the addicted with more than 5,000 clients a day in our state, staff report that many lives have been destroyed because of the increased gaming opportunities.

Additional resources will be needed to assist those affected and their co-dependent families. This compulsion of becoming a winner against proven odds has damaged many who have the genetic predisposition toward addictive behaviors.

What are the available resources available for the therapy needed to restore their mental health? The simple fact is that with more gaming we will need more resources and, so far, I don't see any built-in additional resources with any of these expansion proposals to meet this anticipated increase of needed addiction services.

The Rev. Peter Young

CEO, Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment Albany


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