LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION WILL SOLVE NOTHING

There has been a disturbing trend toward the view that prostitution
laws in Canada are putting the lives of prostitutes at risk, and
should be repealed to create a free market in the buying and selling
of sex.

Those of us on the front lines of dealing with the harmful effects of
street prostitution, and who see first-hand the lack of caring on the
part of governments about the real needs of the men and women forced
to peddle themselves on the streets, are coming to feel genuine anger
at these pronouncements.

Before politicians begin to meddle with our imperfect laws, we hope
they'll take the time to visit the residential communities in the
shadow of Parliament Hill to see how the interplay of crumbling social
services and well-meaning but misguided laissez faire policy-making
are contributing to a war on neighbourhoods and the destruction of the
lives of those trapped within street-hooking's tentacles.

It is not prostitution laws that are putting the lives of street
hookers at risk, but the dangerous combination of addiction and greed
that leave women prey to the kinds of violence we have seen not only
in Vancouver but across Canada.

Street prostitutes don't work lonely streets, get into strangers' cars
and perform sex acts in back alleys, playgrounds, residents' lawns and
parking lots by choice.

The lifestyle is forced upon them by addiction to hard
drugs.

It is only a matter of time before cocaine and heroin leave these
women sick and homeless.

The romantic notion is that prostitution can be a choice and young
women can work their way through school as escorts.

The women who work the street, however, will never be employed in
commercial establishments or work as outcall escorts.

At Mercy of Drugs

A night spent on the street would make it obvious to the academics,
lawyers and professionals who make our laws, that street prostitutes
are at the mercy of drugs -- too high, too drunk, too sick to keep
regular hours of work or appointments with doctors.

Which leaves them where?

Back on the street, where they walk known strolls in residential
neighbourhoods.

Back on the street, near drug houses that are the epicentres of
violence and fear in communities.

Back on the street, where they fight, yell, pass out and are
beaten.

Street prostitution occurs night and day, and young women just walking
home from school must keep their eye out for johns. Neighbours clean
condoms from their driveways. Residents keep a wary eye out for needles.

Our imperfect solicitation laws are a meagre tool that police have to
try to keep the peace.

Take those laws away, and addicted women will continue to get into
cars, walk the strolls, and frequent the drug dealers who destroy
nearby properties to cater to the prostitutes' habits.

But then, the community would have no advantage in the war to raise
their families and run their businesses free from harassment, violence
and drugs.

The debate over solicitation laws is taking place in a vacuum, and any
harm will be further amplified by the general lack of commitment on
the part of politicians to provide the kind of help these women need
to live safer lives.

Funding cuts for detox services, living allowances and education are
making it impossible for social workers and community-outreach
volunteers to offer these women any way out.

"Free" solutions such as legalization and decriminalization are being
put forward because no one wants to face the fact that making headway
on this problem is costly and difficult.

Too Troubled, Dysfunctional

It means funding treatment options -- not closing detox beds -- and it
means providing transitional and supportive housing for these women,
who are largely too troubled and dysfunctional to live on their own.

It also means realizing that Ottawa's population of female intravenous
drug users are 16-per-cent HIV positive and around 60-per-cent
hepatitis-C positive.

They are not going to qualify for any reasonable licensing or
legalization scheme.

So, the sickest and most addicted will be left behind on the streets
and still in danger when everyone declares the problem "solved" by
legalization.

It is immoral to offer no help to these women other than to let them
continue to put their lives at risk with law enforcement turning a
blind eye while at the same time offering communities no protection.

Some communities are beginning to turn the tide by helping politicians
at the highest level understand that there is a world of difference
between the world of Pretty Woman and the stroll at 1:30 a.m.

Resistance to repealing current solicitation laws isn't based on
prudish moral objection, but on eyewitness experience of the reality
of street prostitution and the trap it represents.

An examination of solicitation laws must be done with eyes open and
with the co-operation of neighbourhoods that must deal with street
prostitution.

The myths and stereotypes that lead politicians to accomplish only the
easy work of legislative change, without a heavy investment in social
programs, will only further harm communities and the women ensnared by
addiction and fear.