Contact Admin. Abuse , Drug Use. Experts know there is a significant link between sex work and drug use. Sometimes sex traffickers use drugs to keep young girls under their control or men share drugs with sex workers as a way to enhance their encounters. Depending on the country, approximately 0. Addiction, meanwhile, affects fewer people. The relationship between sex and drugs makes criminal operations even more dangerous. Highly organized groups force young girls to have sex in brothels threatening them with deportation or harm if they leave.
These groups also may traffic drugs, putting everyone involved at risk for violent encounters. Law enforcement and advocacy groups learn more every day about the vulnerability of these sex workers and now promote more ways to help them.
Typically underage girls and boys begin sex work as a result of being forced from their homes due to sexual or physical abuse. A girl may meet an older man who convinces her to sell sex acts for money; commonly he may give her drugs to encourage the process. Teens may be recruited within cities or small towns in the United States or brought here illegally from other countries.
Either way, people in control of the vulnerable children threaten them to get their cooperation, including the use of the following techniques:. Growing use of strong opioids in the U. A New York man was arrested in late for sex trafficking; he used opiates as a way to lure young women coming out of methadone clinics. Women who are in recovery for opiate use are even more vulnerable, because traffickers target them as they struggle to find safe housing and jobs. In addition to immigrants, victims include children aging out of state care, who already struggle with mental health issues and addiction.
In addition to sex trafficking victims, sex workers on the street commonly suffer with drug addictions, most often heroin and cocaine. Research on the best way to help female street-based sex workers shows this group suffers from complex issues and needs multiple interventions. Treating addictions to heroin and cocaine requires intensive therapy and longer stays at treatment facilities.
