Berkeley Weighs Legalizing Prostitution

[Kadie]

Berkeley Weighs Legalizing Prostitution

1 hour, 48 minutes ago


By MICHELLE LOCKE, Associated Press Writer

BERKELEY, Calif. - Residents of this left-leaning city will have a chance to vote in November on whether they think prostitution should be a crime.

An advocacy group announced Wednesday it had gathered nearly 3,200 signatures, about 1,000 more than needed to get the initiative on the ballot.

The measure would have little more than symbolic value, since it wouldn't undo laws against prostitution. But Robyn Few, head of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, said a win at the polls would send an important message.

snip...
Beyond its symbolic value, the ballot initiative would order the police department to give the "lowest priority" to enforcing anti-prostitution laws.

more... http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040624/ap_on_fe_st/berkeley_prostitution_1

[FreakinDJ]

1. Just offer free Rehab for those poor drug adicts

I am sick and tired of people pretending most prostitution is not a direct result of drug addiction

[Catch22Dem]

2. Some, but not all.

You're right, most prostitutes work to pay for their habit, but not all of them.

[DavidMS]

3. Not all drug addicts are prostutes

and not all prostutes are drug addicts.

I generaly like a legalize and regulate response to prosutution since once regulated its less harmfull than most victimless crimes and more importantly protects the people involved from STDs, and exploitation.

[jdj]

4. Apparently about 99% of street prostitutes are.

And this is also the group that is probably most likely to go through the courts over and over.

[ixion]

5. yes, but street prostitutes are not all prostitutes

in fact, that is the bottom of the rung of the ladder in the industry, as one might expect. Arresting these people does nothing more than tie up the courts and jails, just like arresting any other non-violent drug user. It is a waste of taxpayer money and destroys the lives of those arrested.

Ironically, under the guise of 'helping' them. :crazy:

[Kadie]

6. It is a vicious circle

Prostitution is not going away, maybe by legalizing it they can find a way to help eliminate some of the drug and abuse that seems to go with it.

[truthspeaker]

7. decriminalization without regulation is the worst of both worlds

If they instruct the police to make it a low priority, but do nothing to regulate the treatment of prostitutes, it will result in an industry run by pimps. Not a good scene at all.

I realize that arresting prostitutes does nothing to help them. IMHO it should be legal but heavily regulated to prevent pimps & customers from abusing, and even enslaving, prostitutes.