Permit But Discourage Regulating Excessive Consumption

by Bogart, W. A.

• ISBN13: 9780199869060
• ISBN10: 0199869065
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2011-01-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Permit But Discourage: Regulating Excessive Consumption, by W.A. Bogart is the first book to focus on problem gambling and its regulation and to situate this analysis in the larger context of regulating excessive consumption. This work analyzes the effectiveness of law in controlling excessive consumption. It engages theoretical discussions concerning the effectiveness of legal intervention, especially regarding "normativity", the relationship between law and norms. It also argues that various forms of over consumption (alcohol, smoking, non-nutritious eating) can be more effectively controlled by altering norms regarding them so that such excesses can be suppressed to a greater extent.

Regulatory efforts are aimed not at forbidding consumption but at suppressing excessive aspects. In the case of tobacco this means zero consumption since there is no safe level of smoking. In contrast, in terms of alcohol, this means encouraging consumption of only moderate amounts. Addictive drugs are, generally, prohibited, and their use is criminalized. But there is a significant measure of public opinion that prohibition does more harm than good; that permit but discourage would produce better results. The battle against obesity, a contested concept, focuses on encouraging eating nutritious foods and being physically active.

The book then focuses on one form of consumption that is associated with major social issues: problem gambling. Regulation, to date, has been mostly on ensuring honesty regarding the various games and in promoting revenue enhancement for owners (often governments). However, in the face of the mounting evidence regarding the damage caused by those with impaired control, there are increasing calls for the regulatory frameworks to make "harm minimization" and related concepts a priority. "Harm minimization" brings permit but discourage to the fore in terms of gambling and problem gambling. Permit But Discourage examines a variety of legal interventions that could be used to address problem gambling.

Author Biography

W. A. Bogart received his B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Toronto and his LL.M. from Harvard University. He is University Professor and Professor of Law at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He co-teaches a first year course in Access to Justice. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Good Government? Good Citizens? : Courts, Politics, and Markets in a Changing Canada. Professor Bogart was A Virtual Scholar in Residence for the Law Commission of Canada during the years of 2002-2003. He has been a frequent consultant to government and other public bodies regarding legal policy.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART ONE - A PREFACE TO REGULATION:
THE STORY OF ALCOHOL


CHAPTER ONE: Alcohol - Many Attitudes, Much Law, Mixed Results

I. Introduction

II. Alcohol and Public Health

III. Regulating Consumption from the 19th Century to Prohibition: The Separation of Drugs and Alcohol

IV. Prohibition and Unintended Consequences

V. Regulating Alcohol: After Prohibition and Into the 21st Century
a) Approaches to Control 1930-2000
b) Contemporary Strategies for Regulating Alcohol

VI. Conclusion: "The Power of Law to Correct All Evils"?


PART TWO - REGULATING EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION:
NORMATIVITY

CHAPTER TWO: Legal Intervention, the Regulatory Mix, and the Impact of Law

I. Introduction

II. From Soft Intervention to the Heaviest Machinery of the State
a) The Range of Tools
b) Taxes
c) Is Litigation a Tool?
d) An Example of Legal Intervention and of the Regulatory Mix: The Suppression of Smoking

III. The "New Governance" and the Regulatory Mix
a) Is There a New Governance?
b) The Changing Emphasis: Two Examples
c) The New Governance and Regulation of Consumption

IV. The Impact of Law
a) Introduction
b) Determining Impact
c) Assessing the Regulatory Mix
d) Assessing Before Implementing?; Ex Ante Efforts - Regulatory Impact Assessments

V. Conclusions

CHAPTER THREE: Excessive Consumption and Normativity

I. Introduction

II. What Are Norms?

III. Who are the Normativists?
a) Law and Economics Encounters Law and Socioeconomics
b) Some Examples of Normativists' Work

IV. A Theory of Normativity?
a) Three Accounts: Signalling, Reciprocity, and Esteem
b) Things are Clearer Looking Back

V. Normativity
a) Excessive Consumption and Norms
b) Excessive Consumption and Normativity

VI. Conclusions

CHAPTER FOUR: Permit But Discourage

I. Introduction

II. Consumption: A Loyalty Test for Market Economies?

III. Marketing Excess
a) Paths to Excess
b) Creating Demand: Manipulating Choice

IV. Law's Intervention: Permit But Discourage
a) Introduction
b) Permit: A Turning from the Heaviest Hand of the Law
c) Discouraging: Can Law Offset the Market? Can Normativity?

V. Recreational Drugs: The Outliers?

VI. Conclusions

PART THREE - WHAT ARE THE ODDS?:
REGULATING PROBLEM GAMBLING

CHAPTER FIVE: Gambling, Problem Gambling and Normativity

I. Introduction

II. "One Vast Casino": Gambling in England into the Nineteenth Century

III. Twentieth Century Canada: From Crime to Harm Minimization
a) Introduction
b) Canada: Three Stages of Regulation

IV. The Sudden Rise of Legalized Gambling
a) Gambling and the Economy
b) Benefits and Costs of Gambling

V. Problem Gambling
a) Prevalence
b) What Constitutes a Problem Gambler?
c) Factors Associated With Those Most at Risk for Problem Gambling

VI. Norms, Gambling and Problem Gambling
a) Introduction
b) Historical Shifts in Norms and Attitudes
c) Ambivalent Attitudes Towards Gambling and Problem Gambling
d) Influence of Family and Peers
e) Conclusion

VII. Conclusion: "This Dreadful Vice"

CHAPTER SIX: Regulating Moderation in Gambling? - 1 Overarching Considerations

I. Introduction

II. Regulating Moderation?: Promoting Cure? Avoiding Excess?

III. Overarching Considerations
a) Frameworks for Intervention - General Agreement but the Devil is in the Details
b) Three Concepts Designed to Promote Intervention
c) Independent Authority to Oversee Regulation of Gambling and Prevention of Problem Gambling
d) Independent and Well Funded Policy and Research Programs

IV. The Rise of Internet Gambling
a) Introduction: Untamable Cyberspace?
b) Internet Gambling and Its Proliferation
c) Problem Gambling and the Internet
d) Regulating Internet Gambling
e) Regulating Problem Gambling on the Internet?

V. Conclusion

CHAPTER SEVEN: Regulating Moderation in Gambling? - 2 Specific Interventions

I. Introduction

II. The "Mix"
a) Enforcing Existing Law
b) Some Kinds of Gambling are Worse Than Others: Restricting EGMs (Especially VLTs)
c) Saying "No"!: Excluding Problem Gamblers
d) The Hope of Litigation?: Suing the Providers
e) Refereeing Information
f) A License to Play?

III. Effectiveness of the Mix: "There Must be Some Impact"

IV. Conclusions

CONCLUSION

INDEX