FOR ADVOCATES of casino gambling to compare it to one-armed bandits, slot machines and lotteries, is to compare a pussycat to a tiger.
They are both cats but they are not both tigers. Casino gambling is a tiger which we will ride at our own peril. The problem of casino gambling is the type of people it attracts.
Generally, casino gambling attracts those who can afford to bet and lose tens of thousands of US dollars a night. Such people invariably have vices which can include desires for guns
to protect their winnings, prostitutes, little boys and little girls, marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and other illicit drugs and substances.
Given the large amounts of money such gamblers have at their disposal, they inevitably attract criminals who then ensure that these vices and neuroses are satisfied.
This is why in almost all jurisdictions where casino gambling is legalised, there is a considerable spike in crime which is always very difficult to arrest once it takes root.
Prostitution
In a word, legalisation of casino gambling will further erode the social fabric of this country. There are now stories making the rounds of school-age children being taken on board cruise ships for the purposes of prostitution.
Casino gamblers are not choir boys or boy scouts participating in a bingo game or old-age pensioners playing slot machines. My advice to Government is to consider legalising casino gambling and then don’t do it.
Those amongst us who insist that 75 per cent of casinos are slot machines, they should be aware that there are already dozens of such arcades around the island and we do not see them crammed with tourists. These machines are used by petty gamblers.
As for the matter of Barbados decriminalising the use of small amounts of marijuana, then such a measure will be calamitous for our young men.
It will be a perverse contradiction that while Government is actively trying to discourage and educate people concerning the harmful effects of tobacco smoke, it is also seeking to decriminalise the smoking of marijuana with not only its harmful but intoxicating effects.
The solution is now to wage a public relations campaign in the schools, prisons and the media discouraging and educating people concerning the harmful psychological and intoxicating effect of marijuana smoke.
If decriminalised, will the policemen and soldiers be allowed to smoke? This seems like madness.
We must exhort our young people to remain healthy and sober so that they can lead productive lives. No one regrets being healthy or sober.
– CAROL MARSHALL
