Plans Under Way for Annual NCRG Conference
Addiction as a syndrome will be the focus of the fifth annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction: Common Causes, Managing Consequences. The conference, which will be held Dec. 5-7 in Las Vegas, will look at the "common" or shared causes of addictive behaviors and how the consequences of such behaviors are managed by individuals, treatment providers, government and communities.
Following the success of last year's dual-track conference, the program once again will feature noted addictions researchers and clinicians presenting alongside gaming industry executives and consultants. The Scientific and Clinical track will focus on cutting-edge scientific research on disordered gambling and related addictive behaviors. Leading scientists in the field will discuss neurobiology, pharmacological treatment, and the comorbidity of addictive behaviors, among other topics. The Government and Industry track, designed for industry executives, gaming attorneys, tribal gaming representatives, gaming regulators and elected officials, will concentrate on problem gambling issues confronting the gaming industry and government and provide a forum for discussion of responsible gaming programs.
Speakers already confirmed to attend the 2004 conference include last year's Scientific Achievement Award winners, Robert Ladouceur of Laval University, Marc Potenza of the Yale University School of Medicine and Renee Cunningham-Williams of Washington University, as well as Gregory Gasic of Massachusetts General Hospital, Jan Kauffman of Brigham & Women's Hospital, Richard LaBrie of Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions and Lisa Najavits of McLean Hospital. Ray Hanbury of New Jersey Critical Incident Stress Management will lead a session on addiction in the age of terrorism and social stress, while Rutgers University historian Jackson Lears will present a plenary session on his recent publication, Something for Nothing: Luck in America. Howard Shaffer, director of Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions, will open the program with a plenary session discussing this year's conference theme. Shaffer also will participate in a new Government and Industry track session offering a primer on disordered gambling.
"Gambling and Addiction: Common Causes, Managing Consequences" will offer a unique opportunity for representatives from the gaming industry and government to engage in dialogue with the scientific and clinical communities about new addiction research and the implications for how to manage the consequences of pathological gambling and other addictive disorders. To promote that information exchange, the conference program this year will include a "Conversations with Gaming Executives" luncheon.
"Information sharing of this sort is an important part of the NCRG conference," said Christine Reilly, executive director of the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, which organizes the conference along with the NCRG. "This gives all the stakeholders an opportunity to bring their collective experience to bear on this issue."
Conference brochures will be mailed in June. For updated program information, click here.
