We’re adding a long section about the relationship between gambling and alcohol and other hard drugs. This will be quite a wordy section so we’ll condense main points in future blog posts.

The majority of gamblers also smoke and drink heavily. Some use other hard drugs. We’ll discuss how this may hinder recover from deep-rooted gambling habits, and may go unacknowledged by individuals.

The section will also explore decades of campaigning for and achieving positive changes in risk industries such as tobacco and alcohol, and what we can learn from them.

We’ll also consider the possibility of combining treatment services for unitary approach involving all addictions.*  Similarly we shall ask whether in education rather than separate, occasional input about gambling (which will vary widely school to school) it would be better to structure a curricular approach from early age to leaving age through which each stage builds upon the previous to consider all health risks. This would include exploring the links between industries, regulators, law, personal freedom and business freedom.

* For a note about why we sometimes strike through the word ‘addiction’ (addiction) please go here.