A Plea For Sanity

Ladies and Gentleman, a plea for sanity.

Do we truly believe that these people came to Las Vegas for $0.99 Pabst Blue Ribbon?

Las Vegas City Council wants to “clean up” Fremont Street by restricting, rather specific, alcohol retailers.

At the behest of major gaming concerns, off-sale liquor retailers have been targeted as bringing an unsavory element to Fremont Street.

Many people who frequent Fremont Street choose to purchase their intoxicants from a liquor store rather than inside of a casino, presumably for the savings.

While persons of all income brackets enjoy paying a fair price for consumable goods, those who remain idle in the lowest socio-economic class have no other option than to seek the cheapest retailers.

Council members and controlling interested parties believe that stemming the proliferation of these markets will lead to a reduction in the unsavory element who currently frequent the area.

Meanwhile, the casinos who dominate the region are in the business of creating this epidemic.

A casino’s livelihood relies on it’s ability to completely bankrupt an individual and subsequently kick them out onto the street.

Can we really be so blind?

Can we continue to allow gaming moguls to capitalize on our community’s most vulnerable, reap vast profits, leaving broken individuals in their wake and not hold them accountable?

No.

Casinos themselves should have outreach services, including mental health professionals on their staffs to combat the problem which they create.

If, in fact, the culture of gaming is safe and suitable for 90% or more of the general population and the only a small percentage of those who gamble will become afflicted, then all the more reason for these companies to be required to fund these services.

It is absolutely horrifying, that we as a community allow these giants to flourish, and when it comes time to deal with the carnage that they create, we place the blame on the symptom and not the cause.

These people did not come here for $0.99 Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Furthermore, we have a round table of politicians openly embracing these class war policies.

Consuming alcohol publicly is only legal if one looks good while doing so (and can afford the right drinks).

And now they want to create more indistinguishable laws to incarcerate those who do not fit the profile of who we/they want around in these parts.

It is (sadly, very predictable) madness.