Curbing A Haunting Addiction
SEATTLE - Jennifer McCausland describes her son Ben as an outgoing guy, who at 18 years old, discovered gambling.
"I was not aware of how interested and captivated he was by gambling," she said. Ben was hooked on Blackjack. He was a teenager, and he didn't get help, until he moved to Australia. "It was ruining his career, it was ruining his relationships with family in Australia and then he called me and he was going into treatment," said McCausland. Treatment worked, Ben got his life back on track. But he still owed a lot of money. The one thing he neglected was fixing his car. "He would drive the car but would never take anyone else in the car," she remembered. He knew his car was dangerous. It turned out to be deadly. Last April, Ben's brakes failed, he crashed and died. McCausland links her son's broken-down car to his gambling and when she came back to Washington, she started researching. "We discovered there was no treatment, no public or private treatment, for gambling (in Washington)," recalled McCausland. The gambling industry generates over $1 billion a year in Washington. There are thousands of addicts, but no treatment. McCausland came up with Ben's Bill in an attempt to get permanent funding for problem gamblers. Ben's Bill is currently stuck in the House. "Gamblers don't write contributions checks but the gambling industry does," she said. At the very least, McCausland wants $500,000 to start preventing teens from gambling. Then she's going to keep fighting - always keeping close something Ben said to her. "He said that, 'kids just don't realize they are gambling with their lives' and he didn't either...this is a problem, not only for thousands adults but kids and it's time for the state to do something about it." According to the Washington State Council on Problem Gambling, a little over $100,000 was spent on gambling awareness and treatment last year in Washington. In comparison, $90 million went to help alcoholics and drug addicts last year. |
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