It's 1880. you're the mayor of a small town of 300 people and two girls have been sold by their families to pay a gambling debt.
A mother appears in front of you, with haunted eyes and a worry-worn handkerchief in hand. "You cannot save those two missing girls, but you have to stop this from happening again! Help those that cannot help themselves."
What do you do, Mayor Sjsdaiuasgdia?
My guess? exactly what rational people did
* Be vocal about the worst-case scenario
* Criticize those that ignore the warnings
* Ostracize those that ignore the criticism
* Do your level best to discourage "gateway" behavior as best you can
but maybe they're fools. What would you have done? Tell us, Mayor Sjsdaiuasgdia!
Maybe I'd give a little thought to why selling their daughters was or seemed like the only solution to those families. And I'd definitely want to track down and prosecute the people who are going around buying children.
I don't disagree with any of your bullets, but none of those bullets actually require saying "playing cards are evil." They all work just as well with a theme of "Gambling can be fun, but it's addictive, and you might not know you've lost control til it's too late."
Same thing that's done nowadays, steer the riled-up citizens to label the establishments where gambling takes place as nuisance properties shut them down.
A mother appears in front of you, with haunted eyes and a worry-worn handkerchief in hand. "You cannot save those two missing girls, but you have to stop this from happening again! Help those that cannot help themselves."
What do you do, Mayor Sjsdaiuasgdia?
My guess? exactly what rational people did
but maybe they're fools. What would you have done? Tell us, Mayor Sjsdaiuasgdia!