Addiction
Everyone’s talking about poker machines these days. Our politicians and our newspapers, our clubs and pubs; everyone has an opinion on what we should and shouldn’t do with regards to the pokies. But they’re talking about numbers and policies, votes and strategies and campaigns.
They’re not talking about the people who have been hurt, who are hurting still. People like me.
When I was 24 years old, I had the world on a string. Life was mine for the taking. I was engaged to be married and surrounded by fantastic friends; I had my university degree framed on the wall, a great job and excellent prospects. But by the time I turned 25, life as I knew it was over. I was addicted to poker machines.
Continue reading "I’d lie awake, pokie music running through my head" »
Rehabilitation works. Just ask Sally*, who first injected heroin at the of 15.
By 19, she was injecting four times a day and was working as a prostitute to pay for her habit. This continued until she met a social worker who referred her to a drug rehabilitation clinic.
After a tough battle with a few setbacks, Sally is able to live without heroin, and is now completing her second year of a law degree. And this is all thanks to rehabilitation.
Continue reading "It’s tough, it’s expensive, but rehab really works" »
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stephen says:
I think you’ve made a causal connection which is not real : that the Portuguese have de-criminalized drugs, this would not be a reason that people would access treatments for drug and alcohol services ; rather, medical support, and family and friends would, I’d think, be a more accurate reason… Read more »
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thomas vesely says:
‘It’s tough, it’s expensive, but rehab really works’, for the rehab. industry. Read more »
Gambling is a serious social problem with horrendous consequences for the vulnerable. I grew up in suburban Brisbane and my most vivid childhood memory of my step father is when he violently ransacked my brother’s school bag for $1.50 and said, “F—k Dean, he can go without.”
He took the boy’s lunch money, slammed the door, and went down to the TAB to place a bet on another horse destined to lose. I’ve never looked at the man the same way since.
Such is the addictive power of gambling that a father would rather see his own son go hungry so he can satisfy his hunger to gamble. Gambling addiction is a disease. It consumes, controls, and destroys. It’s a monster. I know because I’ve seen it. In the long-running sitcom, The Simpsons, Homer Simpson even gave a name to the addictive power of gambling when Marge got hooked on the pokies at George Burns’ casino. He called it “Gamblor”.
Continue reading "The gambling beast is greedy and shows no mercy" »
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Damien C says:
I like the Gamblor image. I think putting a couple of bucks on a nag or into a poker machine is fun, but have come to the point of not wanting anything to do with this industry. People can blame people and get on self righteous soapboxes about personal responsibility,… Read more »
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Jesse says:
I see the reality of this in our states prisons on a daily basis. Far too many ‘deniers’ of gambling addiction fail to fully grasp the power of addiction - of all types- and the devestating effects it has on individuals and families. We as a society pay a huge… Read more »
It is hard to believe the NRL, a code which galvanises communities in two of the largest states in Australia, could be staring at financial collapse because of the Gillard Government’s gambling reforms.
It is hard to believe that the AFL, the national game which enjoys the status of a religion in four states and one territory, is also facing ruin because of the mandatory pre-commitment proposal to make gamblers think about how much they are prepared to wager on poker machines before placing a bet.
It is hard to believe because it is simply unbelievable. It is hard to believe because it is rubbish.
Continue reading "The depressing truth about football’s gambling addiction" »
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Pat says:
Let’s not forget why ‘Pokies’ were first introduced. It was not some great liberalising social gesture by some of the state governments to the people. It was pure and simple , to GENERATE more tax revenue for state government coffers. I suppose they did not realize the cancerous contagion they… Read more »
They say quitting smoking is hard, but I’ve learnt the real truth. It’s not just the quitting that’s difficult (although it is), starting up again is bloody hard too.
I’m not just doing this for attention; this is not a cry for help nor is it part of any quarter-life - well, a little closer to third-life - crisis. Truth be told I always enjoyed smoking and I never wanted to give it up in the first place.
I started engaging in smoking when I was sixteen. I say “engaging” because I was really pretending to inhale smoke whilst holding it in my mouth before blowing it out like a clandestine burp.
Continue reading "The difficulties of giving up on quitting smoking" »
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dean livanos says:
You have to look at the types of hospital admittances. Smoking illnesses are almost always fatal and long term, sports injuries have a wide spectrum but the majority are only short term damage. You are comparing apples with oranges as they say. Read more »
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A girl says:
I think the point is that smokers love smoking. They love the smell of burning tobacco. they love the way the smoke curls and the cloud that comes from their mouths. They love the taste of a fresh smoke as it compliments the coffee theory drink. they love the incredible… Read more »
After more than a decade in politics, I have sadly grown used to watching the often bizarre stances taken by other pollies and wondering why they are doing what they are doing.
The response of some members of the Coalition to the poker machine issue is a case in point.
To truly understand the Coalition’s current position on pokies, you need to know it has nothing to do with pokies.
Continue reading "Coalition stance on pokies has nothing to do with pokies" »
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Luke says:
Your great at creating talk on pokies nick… I would just like to see you do somethng… instead of discussing ideals over and over and over and over… Read more »
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pj says:
i agree,thatmosis..you don’t have to drink poison to know its poison! Read more »
It’s stating the obvious, but problem gamblers have a problem. They suffer from a horrible addiction – the same as alcoholics and druggies – that causes impulses they cannot resist and consequences that affect all those around them.
Like all addicts, problem gamblers go to extreme lengths to get their fix. For 60 per cent, that involves committing a crime to get the cash to feed their habit.
A report by private corruption investigation group Warfield & Associates found poker machines were the most common way to gamble stolen money. The study found between 2008-10 a whopping $13 million was stolen to play the pokies.
Continue reading "Labor’s pokies reforms are the biggest gamble of all" »
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A concerned husband says:
No matter what you do, you will not stop an addict unless you take away every opportunity - pokies, racing etc. Once my wife steps into or gets near a hotel with pokies there is no restraining her and any attempt to take her away ends up in a fight.… Read more »
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Barry from adelaide says:
http://begthequestion.info/ Read more »
It is not the done thing for one reporter to quote vast slabs of another reporter’s work. There’s one’s own ego to think of, not to mention copyright.
But Darwin ABC’s morning presenter, Julia Christensen, has given her blessing to The Punch to reproduce great slabs of her interview with the Country Liberals’ member for Port Darwin, John Elferink, conducted on local radio yesterday morning.
We do this as a public service. Chances are that never in your life will you have heard such a bizarre set of admissions from a public figure. Unless you were listening when the Elf, as he is known up here in the Northern Territory, last turned up on radio.
Continue reading "An extraordinary story about personal responsibility" »
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Jaimes says:
I was an abused child and spent many miserable hours (weeks, months, years) as a teenager. My wakeup call came from a good friend who made the remark “what happened has ruined the first 16 years of your life, but it’s up to you whether you let it destroy the… Read more »
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Chris McGrath says:
What has the lord to do with it? Either a person has the willpower to do it or hasent. Praying to a non-existant Lord dosent work, thats passing the buck, Jesus dies on the cross to save the word we are told. Hasent done much of a job has he? Read more »
The ABC drama “Curtin” put into focus the life of John Curtin – one of Australia’s greatest Prime Ministers.
Like so many people, alcohol was Curtin’s greatest challenge. He had grown up around it with his father running several pubs. But it was during his time as the Victorian Secretary of the Timber Workers’ Union that Curtin’s fondness for the demon drink grew into a major disability. According to his biographer David Day: “the culture of the male-dominated union movement was steeped in beer” and Curtin was steeped in the culture.
Suddenly in November 1915 Curtin resigned his post. He went briefly to work for the Australian Workers’ Union and then was appointed the organiser of the anti-conscription campaign being run by the Congress of Australian Trade Unions. The work was stressful and intense and his drinking continued and became worse.
Continue reading "Rehab 1916-style for a future Prime Minister" »
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Wombat says:
The denigration of the memory of a great Australian that some have engaged in here is disgraceful. Menzies just wanted Curtin to join a wartime government to solve his own terminal political problems. In the end Menzies even offered to serve under Curtin. Curtin made the correct decision in refusing… Read more »
It was around 11 in the morning and Aunty Mavis came to the door. It had been raining: her wig was askew and her badly drawn on eyebrows were running down into her eyes. As usual, she had a bottle of Stone’s Green Ginger wine in a string bag.
It was just before lunchtime and my sisters and I were sitting around the Formica table in my grandparents’ kitchen shelling peas onto newspaper, preparing for a baked dinner. She came in and was drinking with Nanna who was peeling potatoes in the sink. Grandad was out the back, drunk, listening to the races.
Continue reading "If alcohol is no big deal, go without it for a month" »
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Front says:
Dear Valentin - Those of us who are addicted to life, or sobriety, are thus all in denial. Life is addictive, pleasurable, we take it every day and it is eventually unsustainable. Can you understand where I’m coming from? Front Read more »
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Ben says:
The problem with using the description of Alcoholism as an illness that the “sufferers” have no control over always tends to be an effort to deflect responsibility. At some stage, there was a choice involved to jump on the wagon and so I don’t think it is comparable to other… Read more »
James Packer has clearly decided that attack is the best form of defence in aiming a strident up-yours at critics of casinos - which he of the diminishing billions billed today as the unsung heroes of job creation, urban renewal, skills training and government assistance.
“Next time you read an unbalanced story about your casinos and their impact on the community, stop and think about the other side of the story,’’ the Crown chairman said at today’s AGM in Melbourne.
“The one that rarely gets reported. That is, of the contribution Crown makes to tourism, to employment, to training, to urban development, to community partnerships and to government revenues. Contributions that make us fundamentally different to many pubs and clubs.”
Continue reading "Please - lay off casinos and be kinder to James Packer" »
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Terry says:
Thank god for good employers. For many decades one of Australia’s best employers was James Hardie. Provided lots of good jobs. Of course when the true cost of their product finally became clear they moved offshore and then tried (and are still trying) to ditch the cost on to the… Read more »
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Jasper says:
I’m actually quite sick of the refrain that runs “we are employers, therefore we can’t be that bad”, the mining industry screams this as well. But I bet Packer’s fortune that if they could make the same profit without employing a soul, they would. Crown does not contribute to “job… Read more »
It was the third day without internet that things really started to go pear-shaped.
We’d tried everything. The modem, the network card, the f—-ing wifi router. All had been plugged in and out, cleaned, hugged and yelled at but still our small sharehouse was stuck in an interweb drought.
Continue reading "Hunger and panic when the internet packs it in" »
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roflcopter says:
The fact that I paid for it stops me from trashing the Xbox when XBL goes down while you’re “PWNING NOOBS” in CoD4 multiplayer, or stabbing my laptop in the face when Firefox randomly decides to crash mid Read more »
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Jeremy says:
There’s a South Park episode on this very thing. They end up with refugee camps for people who’ve gone west hunting for internet. Read more »
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