Drugs & Prostitution

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The relationship between drugs and prostitution has been studied as part of a general investigation undertaken by the Inquiry into Prostitution established by the Victorian Government in September 1984. Prostitutes surveyed in Melbourne had similar alcohol consumption patterns to their age counterparts in the community but they were more likely to smoke tobacco and they smoked more each day. Overall, 87% of female and 65% of male prostitutes had used drugs other than alcohol and tobacco in the last year. They used over-the-counter medicines twice as frequently as the general population but most of this overrepresentation could be attributed to vitamin pills and tonics. Use of prescription medication was about the same as in the community. Although most prostitutes surveyed had tried marijuana only half had used it in the last year. Similarly, one-third of the interviewees had tried heroin but less than 40% of these users, or 15% of the sample, had used heroin in the last year. This use was greater among street workers than among other prostitutes. Marijuana use usually preceded prostitution but no definite time sequence for initiation into other drug use and prostitution could be established and there was no direct evidence for a causal link between narcotic abuse and prostitution. It is possible that the high frequency of illicit drug use among street prostitutes results from either a tendency for some young people to become associated with others engaging in generally deviant behaviour or through funnelling into a counter societal lifestyle encouraged by desire for money.

This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit: