scourge of the 21st century

Sheriff Kevin Veal said: “If £150,000 can be lost in 50 minutes under clandestine conditions in the early hours of the morning, it is an issue so great that it needs to be addressed by the wider community. It is a social issue.” Internet gambling, along with alcohol and heroin, is the scourge of the 21st century because it is unregulated,” said. “It also raises questions about the wisdom of credit card companies allowing borrowing levels to be raised without any real checks. “My own firm is seeing more and more cases of bankruptcies every week arising from addiction to online gambling.”
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vulnerable women are turning to online gambling in increasing numbers


vulnerable women are turning to online gambling in increasing numbers. And she warns it is leading to major problems that can have an impact on relationships and result in large debts.
“The Internet adds to the risk of problem gambling because it is highly accessible and therefore easy to gamble in secret. You don’t have to leave the house to do it and you can place bets day and night. There aren’t the restrictions that exist if you have to go out to a casino or betting shop,”
While James Bond often encountered glamorous women in casinos during his films, Professor Corney says women have traditionally shied away from such male-orientated environments. Their most common public exposure to gambling was and for now, remains, the bingo hall.
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1,700 gambling websites


, in addition to interactive television channels and mobile phones offering gambling services.average online gambling debt in 2006 was £25,676 - a rise of £5,000 from the year before, and a figure that it expects to increase further this year. The Debt Advisor says it is already seeing victims of the new trend, and believes that the rise in online betting will add to the UK's growing debt problem. It cites one client who ran up debts of £100,000 playing online poker in internet casinos.
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promoted illegal Internet gambling


High-profile Internet giants Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have forked over a combined $31.5 million in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over allegations the three promoted illegal Internet gambling."Prosecutions from this office (Eastern District of Missouri) have had a chilling effect on Internet gambling," Hanaway told reporters. "This settlement has made a major impact on Internet gambling in the United States, as these are three of the largest Internet businesses in the world."
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Profound implications for the future of online gambling

Profound implications for the future of online gambling. Haines, who lives in Marin County, north of San Francisco, is suing to get her money back, taking on not the casinos, but Visa International, MasterCard International, and one of the banks that issued her a credit card.
In her suit, Haines says the casinos duped her into thinking the online gambling was legal and then unfairly stacked the odds of winning against her. She further contends that Visa and MasterCard were indirect participants by permitting their cards to be used by the casinos and then profiting from the transactions.
Her suit seeks to go a step further. She is asking the court to prevent Visa and MasterCard from permitting their cards to be used by Internet casinos that provide service to any person located in the State of California.
"When people see their logo on a site, they think the casino is legitimate," said Ira Rothken, Haines's lawyer. "Visa and MasterCard are involved in aiding and abetting these online gaming operators."
Rothken described his client as "an absolute victim," who was "caught up in the hypnotic effect of online gambling."
Several online casinos, along with industry observers, counter that Haines was not victim, but a willing and eager participant who now is trying to get out of paying for her losses.
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urge surfing


A technique known as "urge surfing" which harnesses mindfulness can be helpful for people who are experiencing cravings. Originally developed as a tool to help people struggling to battle alcohol and drug addiction, urge surfing is now being used to help people with overeating, gambling, compulsive shopping, smoking and other compulsive urges.Urge surfing can also be adapted to help people with panic attacks or any form of obsessive thoughts. When you have compulsions or cravings, you need a way to interrupt your thoughts before you take action. Mindfulness, or urge surfing, can achieve exactly that.
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3,980 drug-related deaths

The Office of Vital Statistics has recorded that approximately 87,500 deaths occurred in Florida during January through June 2007. Of these, the medical examiners reported on 3,980 drug-related deaths
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Drinking often at home

NHS admissions for 35 to 49-year-olds with alcohol-related conditions have risen from around 50,000 in 2002/03 to 75,000 in 2005/06.
The government is warning people that drinking often at home could cause problems within 10 years of starting.
One in three of the 30 to 50-year-olds surveyed said that drinking too much had wrecked a night out for them at least once in the past year, and 44% said they hadn't learned to stick to the recommended number of drinks.
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close down the drug addiction clinics

radical solution to heroin addiction is to close down the drug addiction clinics and restrict medical intervention to such physical complications as abscesses, hepatitis and Aids: 'Addicts would then have to face the truth, that they are as responsible for their actions as anyone else.'
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Many have no difficulty in taking heroin intermittently

Large numbers of Vietnam veterans addicted to heroin promptly packed in their habit when they returned home with little or no support from the relevant agencies.Every premise of current policy turns out to be deeply flawed. To start with, the overwhelming craving for heroin, reputedly the defining feature of addiction, is much overplayed. Many have no difficulty in taking heroin intermittently as a recreational drug once or twice a week for years on end: 'You don't just wake up in the morning and decide to become an addict,' William Burroughs claims in his autobiography. 'It takes at least three months shooting up several times a day to get any habit at all.'
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Strawberry meth has been reported in several states including Missouri, Washington State, Wisconsin, and Texas, Nevada, and California.

An Associated Press story published in newspapers across the U.S. on May 1, 2007 focused on discoveries of what appeared to be a strawberry-flavored children's drink at the scene of an illegal meth lab. It has come to be known as "Strawberry Quick." It has no connection with the popular Nestle QUIK flavored milk products now renamed Nestle Nesquik. Chris Harrison, a chemist at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, says that meth is bitter to the makers try to take that edge off any way they can and have used lollipops, sodas, candy, and anything else they can to make it easier for first-time users. The article said that the "Strawberry Quick" angle came to light in January when the Nevada Department of Public Safety issued a warning about it.

The Strawberry meth has been reported in several states including Missouri, Washington State, Wisconsin, and Texas, Nevada, and California.

Because of the sweet taste and candy-like appearance there is concern about children coming into contact with it but experts say its not been made that way just for the purpose of introducing it to children. Giving it a sweet taste and a harmless-sounding name is a marketing technique to ease it into the hands of any potential victim.
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Fake or Real Urban Myth or the new marketplace

I have been alerted by one of our EMT's for our volunteer fire department that they have received emails from emergency responder organizations to be on the lookout for a new form of crystalized methamphetamine that is targeted at children and to be aware of this new form if called to an emergency involving a child that may have symptoms of drug induction or overdose.

They are calling this new form of meth "Strawberry Quick" and it looks like the "Pop Rocks" candy that sizzle in your mouth. In its current form, it is dark pink in color and has a strawberry scent to it.

Please advise your children and their friends and other students not to accept candy from strangers as this is obviously an attempt to seduce children into drug use. They also need to be cautious in accepting candy from even friends that may have received it from someone else, thinking it is just candy.
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Strawberry Quick is popular among new users who snort it because the flavoring can cut down on the taste

To combat the bitter taste of methamphetamines, police say some cooks are adding flavoring that gives the drug a strawberry flavor and turns its trademark crystals bright pink.

"To entice children around Valentine’s Day, manufacturers and dealers compressed the flavored form of the drug into heart shapes, colored it bright pink and wrapped it in shiny paper," the Idaho Press-Tribune reported earlier this month. "Just like regular meth, the 'quick' versions can be broken up into a powder and snorted with a drinking straw, can be smoked or can be reliquified and injected intravenously."

Here's what a recent law-enforcement bulletin said: "Strawberry Quick is popular among new users who snort it because the flavoring can cut down on the taste. Teenagers who have been taught meth is bad may see this flavored version as less harmful. 'Strawberry Quick' is designed for the younger crowd."
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Gamblers Anonymous

Gamblers Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who have joined together to do something about their own gambling problem and to help other compulsive gamblers do the same.
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touch-screen roulette

one in three pounds lost by his punters is touch-screen roulette. Just over half of all terminals belong to Ladbrokes and William Hill; together they take £420m a year.
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losses will exceed £10bn for 2008

British punters lose £9.5bn a year across all gambling- a 36% rise on £7bn lost in 1999, the year online gambling emerged. Excluding the lottery - the "softest" form of gambling - the annual loss from hard gambling widened by 56% in eight years to £7bn.

An adviser to both the culture department and to Revenue & Customs, Professor Vaughan Williams, said deregulation and online innovation will fuel the boom next year. He conservatively predicts the losses will exceed £10bn for 2008.
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betting shop roulette

One in four calls to a helpline charity, Gamcare, are over betting shop roulette. Anthony Jennens, its chairman, said: "They're easily accessible, rapid-play, and you win or lose rapid rewards - hallmarks of games which tend to addiction."
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"crack cocaine of gambling".

Estimates produced by a leading government adviser show £650m a year is taken from punters by the terminals - a sum almost matching the conventional casino industry's entire takings.
The Gambling Commission, the industry's new regulator, this month said in a report that one in nine people who played touch-screen roulette were classified as addictive or problem gamblers - the strongest link in any form of gambling.
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exceed £10bn annually

The money lost by British gamblers will exceed £10bn annually next year - a rise of 50% in nine years, and the biggest jump since the 1960s.
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7,000 online gamers showed

Massively multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and Second Life are becoming increasingly popular. All have celebrated milestones in their user numbers recently, with WOW announcing it has 7.5 million subscribers, Guild Wars selling 2 million copies (including expansions), and Second Life hitting 1 million users--many of whom spend real money in the game.

But games like World of Warcraft are hard to switch off and walk away from, says Professor Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. That's because they have no end, and there's always someone online somewhere in the world.

A Nottingham Trent research study of 7,000 online gamers showed that 12 percent exhibit at least three of the diagnostic criteria of addiction as outlined by the World Health Organisation. These include: craving, withdrawal symptoms, loss of control, and neglect of other activities.
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