Why prostitutes use drugs

To understand whether the research could work, we monitored if the street sex workers were prepared to take part in the study and if they did, how long for. We also monitored how often they took part in the groups and trauma treatment to understand how easy it would be to deliver this service, as well as collecting information on costs.

We carried out in-depth interviews with the women using the service, as well as the organisations providing it to understand what they thought of it and how it could be improved.

We also wanted the research and service to be guided by women with experience of drug use and street sex work. We sought their opinions at each stage and came up with solutions to problems which arose. Fewer street sex workers took part than expected. Eleven women took part and four attended enough groups to be screened for PTSD. They were all diagnosed with PTSD and so took part in the trauma therapy phase of treatment.

Participants and service providers mostly found the research study and the service was a positive experience, especially the street sex worker-only environment.

These staff would need more support if the new service continued. The study reveals how necessary trauma treatment is for street sex workers, although it is not usually readily available to them. All four of the participants were diagnosed with PTSD. The severity of the trauma the women disclosed was unexpectedly challenging for non-clinical service providers. During the study we found that some changes to the service needed to be made.

Although the three service providers found the new service valuable and were able to work together effectively, they suggested closer working would improve delivery. Pressures on staff and service providers having to reapply to provide drug services during the study also increased the length and cost of the intervention period.

Drug and alcohol addiction are linked to many crimes, for many reasons. One of these crimes is prostitution. There are several reasons drug use and prostitution are linked, and several ways in which this relationship is continually changing. Not all sex workers use drugs, and not all people who use drugs turn to sex work to finance their habit.

Department of Justice. A person may be escaping an abusive situation and turn to prostitution as a way out. People start using drugs for similar reasons. Trauma, abuse, and a desire for mental or physical escape all fuel the problematic substance use that leads to addiction. Financial struggles, not necessarily stemming from drug use, may pressure other women or men into the sex trade.

Sex work may lead others to start drinking or using drugs. Almost two-thirds reported that they only worked as a prostitute in order to fund their use of drugs predominantly heroin , and that they would not continue working as a prostitute if they were not still using drugs. The more severely dependent upon heroin they were, the more likely they were to report these links between heroin use and prostitution.

About half of the women in our sample said that they first started to work as a prostitute in order to pay for drugs. The women who began to use heroin prior to prostitution were more severely dependent on heroin and described themselves as being trapped in prostitution by the need to maintain a supply of heroin.

Very few women regularly used cocaine in association with their prostitution.