QAAD conference

Symon Hill reports from the Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs conference

There has been a ‘massive explosion’ in the number of betting shops, as they promote new gambling machines that fuel addiction. That was a key message from last weekend’s conference of Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs (QAAD).

The machines, known as ‘fixed-odd betting terminals’ (FOBTs) or B2s, allow customers to lose hundreds or even thousands of pounds in hours. QAAD report the machines are used by three per cent of people who gamble – but twenty-five per cent of those who call gambling helplines.

It has become common for betting chains to open several shops in the same area. Campaigners say that this is to get round a law that restricts shops to four FOBTs each.

The conference, entitled ‘Speaking Truth to Power’, focused on social and political action in relation to drugs, gambling and addiction. Held at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, it included Quakers with personal experience of addiction and campaigners from other faith groups.

QAAD’s Helena Chambers spoke of the need for campaigning to be grounded in thorough research and evidence. Nonetheless, she emphasised that Quaker campaigners seek to bring the ‘spirit of love into everything we do’.

Issues of class came up several times. QAAD’s clerk, Sandra Hobbs, encouraged Friends to resist those who dismiss them as ‘middle class do-gooders’. The Salvation Army’s Gareth Wallace insisted that ‘the voices of those who have been most hurt are not heard’. James North of the Methodist Church said: ‘The real power we face is big business’. He said the problem stemmed from society’s ‘addiction to consumerism’.

Another prominent theme was QAAD’s call for a minimum price of fifty pence per unit of alcohol. Gareth Wallace said it was about ‘restricting access to the cheapest, nastiest alcohol that is overly used by people who are addicted’.

Not everyone agreed. Two former addicts said it would make ‘no difference’ to people desperate for alcohol. They suggested it could lead to increased theft. Helena Chambers recognised that it was unlikely to affect confirmed addicts but said it was aimed at people in earlier stages of addiction.

There were differing views of how to bring about change. Some supported greater media engagement, while others warned against it. Danny Webster of the Evangelical Alliance acknowledged that ‘there’s always a danger of wanting to win for the sake of winning’. He encouraged different groups to work together when they share values.

Michael Wright, a key figure in the campaign against a new casino in Middlesborough, explained how a process of discernment had led him to accept a place on the Casino Social Responsibility Monitoring Committee. He insisted that he will keep his independence. He has persuaded the mayor to appoint him as the committee’s chair and to let him write the terms of reference.

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