COMPULSIVE GAMBLING

IN response to your recent editorial (Opinion, Nov. 9) about former San
Jose police officer Johnny Venzon, you are wrong -- not ``almost anybody
can get a disability out of the San Jose Police and Fire Retirement Board.''

You first must have a disability, and as of 1980, the American Psychiatric
Association declared ``pathological or compulsive gambling'' to be an
impulse disorder. In other words, it is a treatable illness, or a disability.

Job stress can and does lead to compulsive gambling problems. However, the
San Jose Police Department and many other law enforcement agencies fail to
recognize that such illnesses exist. Typically, the ``image'' of the
department is more important that saving the lives of these impaired
officers. Your editorial's judgmentalism feeds into that need to ``cover
up'' the incidents surrounding an otherwise productive officer.

46inally, you state that disability pensions ``are an easy supplementary
income for anybody with the slightest problem.'' If you consider losing
your 18-year career, being placed in jail for over a year with the
possibility of spending the next 17 years in state prison and loss of
family and the respect of the community only one of the ``slightest'' of
problems, perhaps you really do need education.

Thomas A. Tucker President, California Council on Problem Gambling, Inc.
Palm Springs

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski