Should prostitution be legal?

[qayak]

I would have to say I am more for legalizing prostitution than I am for legalizing the use of pot.

I think most drugs should be legalized. I don't think there will be any more addicts than we already have (Addicts are already addicted, legal or not.) but I think there will be a lot less of a drain on society by getting rid of the violent crime associated with illegal drugs. Spend the money helping those addicts who want to clean up instead of throwing people into prison.

No one has ever died from smoking pot, it is not a gateway drug and people high on pot don't try and kill each other. Why wouldn't you want it legalized?

 

[Tricky]

However experence suggests that once you do legalise it you get a jump in people trafficing and many brothels continue to operate illegaly.

Certainly legalizing prostitution will not end the illegal prostitution trade, but it will make it far less profitable and thus, less attractive to the underworld interests. I'm sure there are still some moonshiners out there, but they don't have the mob behind them much. Cocaine and marijuana are much more profitable because they are illegal.

 

[a_unique_person]

[shemp]

It should be free.

[/shemp]

 

[SamanthaMc]

I think most drugs should be legalized. I don't think there will be any more addicts than we already have (Addicts are already addicted, legal or not.) but I think there will be a lot less of a drain on society by getting rid of the violent crime associated with illegal drugs. Spend the money helping those addicts who want to clean up instead of throwing people into prison.

No one has ever died from smoking pot, it is not a gateway drug and people high on pot don't try and kill each other. Why wouldn't you want it legalized?

Well, it's not that I don't want it legalized, I said that I am less for legalizing pot than legalizing prostitution. And I agree with most of your points about legalizing it.

However, when you say no one has ever died from smoking pot, do you mean that no one has ever died from the act of smoking pot, or that no one has ever died as a result of smoking pot? I had a friend (bring on the anecdotal evidence!) who almost burned his house down with his kids inside because he was stoned and forgot that he put water on to boil, and somehow it caught fire and it almost burned out of control. He wouldn't have forgotten had he not been stoned. He didn't actually die, but he and his kids could have. Granted, that is not evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that people die from smoking pot, but it is scary nevertheless.

But what I really come back to is getting behind the wheel when you are stoned. I was so stoned one time I forgot from minute to minute I was even in a car and I could barely pay attention to the road. I didn't happen to be driving at the time, but another friend was, and whenever I think about legalizing pot, I think back to that night, and think of the accident that could have happened if I had been driving.

So basically my logic is legalizing pot will make it more available which will cause more stoned people to be out on the streets behind the wheel. Drunk driving is such a problem and I feel like stoned driving would be just as much of one.

So we could make it illegal to drive stoned. But people would do it anyway, just like they do with alcohol. I don't smoke pot now, but I might if it was legal, and others might as well. This would increase the number of stoned people, which would increase the number of stoned drivers, which just can't be good. I envision people losing their train of thought, or being paranoid, seeing things that are not there and braking and causing all sorts of road mishaps.

Is there an amount of pot that can be in your system that would not impair your driving ability? I don't know.

So, I sense that I am being illogical here. Explain to me why I am wrong. There are lots of reasons to legalize pot, I know. And I would probably vote for it. The impairment factor is just frightening to me. I know I can have a beer or two and be just fine. But I know I can't have a joint or two and be just fine. Maybe a hit or two? But who has just one or two hits?

 

[Lonewulf]

However, when you say no one has ever died from smoking pot, do you mean that no one has ever died from the act of smoking pot, or that no one has ever died as a result of smoking pot? I had a friend (bring on the anecdotal evidence!) who almost burned his house down with his kids inside because he was stoned and forgot that he put water on to boil, and somehow it caught fire and it almost burned out of control. He wouldn't have forgotten had he not been stoned. He didn't actually die, but he and his kids could have. Granted, that is not evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that people die from smoking pot, but it is scary nevertheless.

Yeah, it's much better when he's passed out from drinking a gallon of whiskey instead.

Also, it's intriguing. Marijuana is illegal, yet he still got his hands on it. So...

...So?

Legalizing pot will allow you to regulate it. You can make less strong versions, and keep it from getting "cut" with bad materials.

Keeping it illegal? That's worked just fine; I mean, it's not like you knew anyone that gets stoned thanks to it being illegal. Oh, wait...

Making something illegal doesn't mean that it keeps it out of the hands of the average citizen. It only means that, if the average citizen wants that material, they have to look towards illegal and unsafe methods to do so.

 

[SamanthaMc]

Yeah, it's much better when he's passed out from drinking a gallon of whiskey instead..

No, he's not much of a drinker actually.

Also, it's intriguing. Marijuana is illegal, yet he still got his hands on it. So...

...So?

So all the people who already get their hands on it will still get their hands on it, and if it is legalized, even more people will get their hands on it. He will do it, I will do it, it will be anarchy....

Legalizing pot will allow you to regulate it. You can make less strong versions, and keep it from getting "cut" with bad materials.

Keeping it illegal? That's worked just fine; I mean, it's not like you knew anyone that gets stoned thanks to it being illegal. Oh, wait...

Making something illegal doesn't mean that it keeps it out of the hands of the average citizen. It only means that, if the average citizen wants that material, they have to look towards illegal and unsafe methods to do so.

So you completely disagree that by making pot legal, more people will have access to it? Yes, if I really wanted some, I could go find some. But if I just sorta wanted some, I can't just run down to the local 7-11 and get some. Um, well, I might could. I couldn't run down to the local 7-11 and get some beer however. You can't buy packaged alcohol inside the city limits where I live. But I digress. If I don't know the dude selling pot right outside the 7-11, I couldn't just bebop over there and grab some like normal people can if they want some beer.

So explain to me how it is that more people wouldn't be smoking pot if it was not illegal.

Oh, and /derail: GO PROSTITUTION GO.

 

[Art Vandelay]

In addition, it is specifically illegal to own or run a 'disorderly house' or brothel - anywhere more than one woman or man resorts to for non-marital sex. As this doesn't necessarily have to be at the same time, or involve sexual intercouse or, indeed, any payment, a very wide range of places are therefore 'brothels', including many hotels. (Remember that it's legal to be a sex worker at a brothel provided you don't assist in its management.)/quote]So would an apartment rented by an unmarried couple count?

I've always wondered why it was ok for me to use one part of my body (my hands let's say) to make money but not ok to use another part of my body (my genitals) for the same purpose.

Umm.. aren't hand-jobs illegal too?

However experence suggests that once you do legalise it you get a jump in people trafficing and many brothels continue to operate illegaly.

Cite?

 

[Lonewulf]

No, he's not much of a drinker actually.

Indeed.

But I assume you at least know a drinker.

So all the people who already get their hands on it will still get their hands on it, and if it is legalized, even more people will get their hands on it. He will do it, I will do it, it will be anarchy....

Yes, absolute anarchy, the entire government will collapse, and everyday people will go in and buy marijuana because, after all, that's what we're all like, and everyone's into it.

There will be collapse, and people will wander the streets with shopping carts, the destroyed dishevelled cityscape with pitted buildings lying around them. And they will look back to today and say, "Why? WHY did we allow such a HORRIBLE substance to be available? OH DEAR LORD WHY?!"

So you completely disagree that by making pot legal, more people will have access to it? Yes, if I really wanted some, I could go find some. But if I just sorta wanted some, I can't just run down to the local 7-11 and get some. Um, well, I might could.

Run down to the store and pick up a barely addictive substance? If it's addictive at all?

While it's sitting right smack dab next to (taxed) cigarettes, and gallons of alcohol?

Pardon me while I'm not quite concerned.

I couldn't run down to the local 7-11 and get some beer however. You can't buy packaged alcohol inside the city limits where I live. But I digress. If I don't know the dude selling pot right outside the 7-11, I couldn't just bebop over there and grab some like normal people can if they want some beer.

I mentioned that the government could regulate marijuana if it was legalized. Did that go unheeded?

So explain to me how it is that more people wouldn't be smoking pot if it was not illegal.

1) I never stated that more people wouldn't end up smoking it. But I do not agree with your "anarchy" statement. Marijuana was once legal, and quite frankly it was not the anarchic post-apocalyptic dystopia that you envision, where millions lay dead from that horrid evil substance and everyone runs amuck, totally disrupting everyday American life with good ol' apple pie.

2) If it's regulated, it's not as harmful nor as potent, if the government chooses to force it to be non-harmful nor potent. If it's legal, people will buy the legal kinds instead of the illegal kinds, out of convenience and a desire to not be arrested, even if it's weaker or different.

Pardon me if I don't see the big deal here.

This is a major derail, naturally, so we should probably take it into another thread. Just that I get a bit worked up about this.




As for prostitution, I think that it should be legalized. But then, there might be anarchy, where everyone wants to have wild orgies of sex, and we'll look at a pitted desert landscape of society and go, "WHY?! Why did we decide to legalize prostitution?!"

 

[fishbob]

I'm sick of those damn "Planet X" options. Where did they come from to begin with? Anyone who votes on them is an idiot.

You had to be there.

PS - prohibition does not work, and has some seriously bad unintended side effects.
Our current laws regarding prostitution and drugs have cost our society far too much.

 

[andyandy]

PS - prohibition does not work, and has some seriously bad unintended side effects.
Our current laws regarding prostitution and drugs have cost our society far too much.

i think that whilst there is a decent case for the legalisation of all drugs, there's a incredibly strong case for the legalisation of the prostitution trade.

 

[The Atheist]

Bulls Hit

Coulda sworn we'd done that topic...


Hookers rule!

Legal here, has been for a while now. God hasn't turned Auckland into a flaming Sodom, despite the fact that gay prostitutes are legal here.

Pleased to see the overwhelming majority showing some solidarity in the poll!

I know that feminists are generally anti-legality of hookers as they feel the women are always being degraded by prostitution. I suggest they meet some career hookers. I know a couple of long-term, very well-adjusted hookers who are both pros (in every sense) and mothers, who would punch the teeth in of a feminist who tried to them they were being manipulated by men. Then, they'd casually explain how they hold the whip hand [sometimes literally] at all times. Who is exploiting whom? Who cares? Between consenting adults, the thought of prostitution being illegal is absurd, to me.

 

[slingblade]

No. The "Planet X" option is for people who still think it's witty or cute to actually vote for that. I frequently see "none of the above" and "Planet X" on the same poll.

Here's the neat thing about being an individual, Dustin. You can pitch a temper tantrum about something so harmless that doing so makes you look like a humorless moron, and I can continue to follow my own dictates of what's witty, cute, or necessary in my world, ignoring your desires completely.

Funny ol world, innit?

Oh, and "Yay, Hookers!"

 

[SimonD]

Coulda sworn we'd done that topic...


Hookers rule!

Legal here, has been for a while now. God hasn't turned Auckland into a flaming Sodom, despite the fact that gay prostitutes are legal here.

Pleased to see the overwhelming majority showing some solidarity in the poll!

I know that feminists are generally anti-legality of hookers as they feel the women are always being degraded by prostitution. I suggest they meet some career hookers. I know a couple of long-term, very well-adjusted hookers who are both pros (in every sense) and mothers, who would punch the teeth in of a feminist who tried to them they were being manipulated by men. Then, they'd casually explain how they hold the whip hand [sometimes literally] at all times. Who is exploiting whom? Who cares? Between consenting adults, the thought of prostitution being illegal is absurd, to me.

Couldn't agree more. I see it as a supply\demand thing. Men want it - women have got it. If they can make a buck out of it, good luck to them.

Anyone know if making protitution (or drugs for that matter) legal has increased the demand for it? I am thinking of places like Holland. Has their country suffered by making these things legal? Has it increased the demand for them?

 

[The Atheist]

Couldn't agree more. I see it as a supply\demand thing. Men want it - women have got it. If they can make a buck out of it, good luck to them.

Just as long as nobody mentions the fact that those opposed to it probably couldn't get five bucks for it. Let's not go there, ok?

Anyone know if making protitution (or drugs for that matter) legal has increased the demand for it? I am thinking of places like Holland. Has their country suffered by making these things legal? Has it increased the demand for them?

Hasn't it been legal for long enough in Oz to tell? Two benefits have immediately become obvious over here:

The cops aren't wasting time busting hookers.

The hookers are paying tax on tricks, which didn't happen previously.

 

[SimonD]

Just as long as nobody mentions the fact that those opposed to it probably couldn't get five bucks for it. Let's not go there, ok?.

Hasn't it been legal for long enough in Oz to tell? Two benefits have immediately become obvious over here:

The cops aren't wasting time busting hookers.

The hookers are paying tax on tricks, which didn't happen previously.

Good question.

I live in Queensland. There was a massive scandal here when Sir Joh was in power. Police and government ministers were found to be involved with running prostitution, gambling, drugs, the whole lot. Would you be surprised if I told you that Sir Joh was a member of the National party and was very conservative and religious? This was about 15 years ago. It has since been cleaned up. So, from that point of view it has made a difference. The 'Valley' was the prime spot for the 'walkers' and you rarely see that anymore. We also have a Casino now in the centre of the city, which has taken the illegal part out of the gambling industry.

Does illegal prostitution and gambling still happen? I am sure it does, but it certainly isn't at the level it was at before.

I guess we don't have to go to Holland to answer that question then

 

[billydkid]

People invariably make the arguments about how things would be better if we legalized prostitution - all of which is true, but to me it is irrelevant. This real issue is this - do we believe the state should have the power to dictate the nature of our consentual interpersonal relations and to do so on moral/religious grounds? Instead of saying - who the hell are you to tell me whether or not I can exchange money for sex and vice verse? - our knee jerk reaction is to try to justify what should be the right of people to conduct their own affairs in matters that should be noone's business but their own by describing the benefits to society of doing so. The fact is, prostitution was criminalized for moral reasons, so what makes you think that the practical benefits of legalizing prostitution will influence those who oppose it?

The same mistake is made when addressing the issue of drug prohibition. Anyone with any sense knows that drug prohibition has done far more harm to this country than good, yet we go around and around this pointless debate over the dangers of drugs knowing full well that reason for the prohibition is, in truth, a moral one and has little to do with protecting people and hardly anyone ever says - hey, it's my life. If I want to take drugs for entertainment, it's none of your friggin business. or I can decide for myself if I want to use drugs. I can already hear the chorus - but we all pay the price. We have been paying the price for decade after decade - hundreds of billions of dollars flushed down the toilet and hundreds of thousands a lives ruined all in some futile and pointless Carrie Nation moralistic crusade. The issue is this and will always be this - you are the owner of your life or other people are and you have the right to control your life in personal matters or other people do.

 

[Lonewulf]

People invariably make the arguments about how things would be better if we legalized prostitution - all of which is true, but to me it is irrelevant.

It's not quite irrelevant, as they would be more okay with legalizing it (I.E., changing the system) if it would be more beneficial, or not harmful to society. It's more convincing if your proposed change is better than worse.

i think that whilst there is a decent case for the legalisation of all drugs, there's a incredibly strong case for the legalisation of the prostitution trade.

Right, such as AIDS, syphilus, the vast amount of orgies that will suddenly go around all of society causing chaos, destruction, and anarchy, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, the arguments are the same.

 

[Cello Man]

I voted "Yes", because I think it's silly that you can "give away" sex for free, but it's illegal if you charge for it.

 

[brodski]

People invariably make the arguments about how things would be better if we legalized prostitution - all of which is true, but to me it is irrelevant. This real issue is this - do we believe the state should have the power to dictate the nature of our consentual interpersonal relations and to do so on moral/religious grounds? Instead of saying - who the hell are you to tell me whether or not I can exchange money for sex and vice verse? - our knee jerk reaction is to try to justify what should be the right of people to conduct their own affairs in matters that should be noone's business but their own by describing the benefits to society of doing so. The fact is, prostitution was criminalized for moral reasons, so what makes you think that the practical benefits of legalizing prostitution will influence those who oppose it?
.

I support eth legalization (and regulation) of the Sex industry, but I also believe that the regulation of chimerical enterprises is one of eth most important functions of government. If eth social costs of legal prostitution outweighed the social benefits of legal prostitution, then I believe that it should not be legal.

Where prostitution is illegal, it may have been criminalized for moral reasons, but I'm pretty sure that none of thepeople who criminalized prostitution are alive today, so their opinions on the matter do not count for anything.

 

[Dr Adequate]

"I wouldn't want my daughter to be a prostitute!"

"If she was, would you want her to be arrested for it? How do you think her criminal record would affect her attempts to switch to some other line of work? Have you noticed that criminalization doesn't stop women from being prostitutes?"