Pubdate: Fri, 10 May 2002
Source: Daily Advertiser, The (LA)
Copyright: 2002 South Louisiana Publishing
Contact:  http://www.theadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1670
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

ADDICTION TREATMENT OFFERS WEAPON AGAINST PROSTITUTION

Issue: Women Who Sell Their Bodies For Money To Buy Drugs. We Suggest: 
Officials Are Taking An Enlightened Attitude.

Police officers and substance abuse counselors agree that few women 
willingly choose the degrading and profoundly dangerous life of a street 
prostitute. Most do so out of desperation. They are addicts, and the money 
they earn by selling their bodies is spent to ease a brutal craving for drugs.

Valerie Keller, director of Acadiana Outreach Center says such women "feel 
there are no other options."

Lafayette does a creditable job of controlling prostitution. As recently as 
the 1960s, it was practiced openly in a number of downtown bars. One 
well-known bawdy house was located next door to the parish courthouse. A 
ring operating out of Lafayette once did a thriving business transporting 
prostitutes by air to locations around the country.

While it is controlled and contained in a narrow environment today, the 
threat of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases makes it a continuing 
danger.

Prostitution will probably never be eliminated, but the number of women 
working the streets can be reduced through substance abuse treatment. 
Fortunately, many officials are taking a more enlightened approach to the 
problem. Prosecutor Floyd Johnson says that, often, the goal of a 
prostitution raid is less to punish than to use criminal charges as 
leverage to force prostitutes into treatment.

It is a humane approach, and the results from cases where prostitutes have 
undergone treatment indicate that it is an effective weapon against 
prostitution.
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MAP posted-by: Ariel