Listen to Fr. Richard McGowan, S.J., a nationally recognized researcher on the policies surrounding the tobacco and alcohol industries, discuss the marijuana ballot initiatives taking place in nine states on Election Day.

Fr. McGowan has done extensive research on the privatization process, as well written articles on the legalization of marijuana. He has published over 60 refereed articles in various academic journals and made more than 90 academic and professional presentations.

Fr. McGowan, an associate professor of the practice of finance in BC's Carroll School of Management, studies the interaction of the business and public policy processes, especially as they relate to the gambling, tobacco, and alcohol industries. He has published six books on gambling, the gaming industry, and government regulation of the gaming industry including: Privatize This? Assessing the Opportunities and Costs of Privatization; The Gambling Debate; and Government and the Transformation of the Gaming Industry.  His forthcoming book is Lotteries: The Key to the Rise of the Gambling Industry, while another, Ethics, Public Policy and the “Sin” Industries, is expected to be published next year.

He serves on the boards of the Massachusetts' Compulsive Gambling Council and the National Center for Responsible Gambling, and is a consultant to numerous lottery and gaming commissions. Fr. McGowan has also served as a research associate at Harvard Medical School's division on addiction.