A History Lesson our Government has Forgotten
In January 1919, the United States ratified the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The Temperance Movement, believing that saloons and alcohol were corrupt and damaging to our nation, speer headed the campaign to pass the 18th Amendment by stating as fact that alcohol was the reason for many of the problems of the time.
During the prohibition era, the production, distribution and sale of alcohol continued unregulated. Organized crime increased and many innocent people were injured or killed as a direct result. Bootleggers tried everything to cut costs and increase production so that the speakeasy's could be kept supplied. Some bootleggers thought that if you filtered antifreeze through a loaf of bread it would become consumable, it didn't and many people became sick or died. It is noted that notorious bootlegger Al Capone was making $60,000,000 a year tax free from his bootlegging operation. Clearly, Prohibition was not working.
In 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, bringing an end to the prohibition of the production, distribution, and sale of alcohol. With that came regulations, and industry standards that made the consumption of alcohol safe once more.
Fast forward to 2014, where we have a group of Prohibitionist's that are working diligently to eliminate all forms of sex work. They have conducted biased studies to produce outlandish statistics. The studies appear to only use the results that support their claim and discard the results that contradict their claim. The Prohibitionist's publish their claims as fact stating that no woman is capable of making an uncoerced decision about entering the sex work industry, all sex workers are victims, and clients who pay for their services are the traffickers keeping them enslaved. These claims are designed to evoke an emotion that supports the need for the strengthening of the laws in place, and increasing funding to enforce them. By doing this, the criminal element is making more in tax free money, innocent people are getting hurt, and we still are not able to stop it.
Our legislature needs to consider decriminalizing prostitution. Independent escorts would then feel safe reporting crimes committed against them, perhaps even report someone who is being forced against their will to be a prostitute, and get them help to escape forced prostitution, we can also strengthen current laws against rape, assault, fraud, and harassment to fight real human trafficking that does not involve consenting adults.
Prohibitionist laws for the purpose of imposing ones morals and values upon the populace do nothing more than drive the problem underground. Prohibitionist's believe that if you write and enforce enough laws the problem will go away. The problem though has not gone away, it has moved underground requiring more funding and other resources to continue to combat it. By decriminalizing prostitution, we can free up the money used to combat prostitution and use it to provide needed services to help those who are truly victims of human sex trafficking.
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