We talked about this a few times already, and I found this very interesting article about the legalization of prostitution -in Antwerp, 'my' city. I noticed how things improved tremendously myself after the legalization, so I'm a stong supporter of it. The schipperskwartier used to be a pretty grim part of the city, now it's much better. You can't stop prostitution anyway, so you're better off legalizing, minimizing the damage and getting tax revenue out of it, I say.

Check out the article at

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05146/510877.stm

It's long but an easy read. Some excerpts







It's all better (not good ).

For the record: Villa Tinto's website: http://www.villatinto.com/
Too bad they don't have any pics up yet...and it's all in Dutch. They participated in the "open company days" and have merchandising products though. lol. I've been there once or twice (before you start, not as a customer OR hooker OR pimp ) and it's really fun. Like a hooker-mall.

There's nothing wrong with prostitution, as long as you keep the drugs and people smuggling out. Legalization is the best way to minimize those problems.

I agree, prostitution should be legalized. I believe prostitutes in el paso are hitting the 100% AIDS infection level. Be nice to be able to bang a hooker without getting something terminal.

Not to mention getting sentenced over it, on top of that.

Why dont we go ahead a legalize theiver? I mean, that would cut down on crime too... if there is no crimial offense then there is no crime. Right? Makes perfect sense, LETS DO IT!

but whores don't hurt people. They only help them.

Then again, I say we legalize drugs, too.

Drugs do hurt people, so I'm against legalizing them. Except maybe soft drugs.
The only reason prostitution is illegal is because of old religious beliefs say it's immoral. And since I'm not religious I don't give a fuck about that. If you're so religious then don't visit prostitutes.

So disease spreading whores dont hurt people? Whats the difference between a soft drug and a hard drug?

Isnt that the same as saying "Im for legalizing prositutes giving blows job(soft prostitutes) but against them have intercourse(hard prostitues)"?

Again, why dont we not have any laws! Then the crime rate would be 0. Then we wouldnt need to pay police. and the extra money can go into abortion clinics and education.

prostitution.... if you legalize prostitution and then stick heavy regulation on it (ie, mandatory STD testing and whatnot), then you're not going to have prostitutes spreading diseases. This has been shown to work in europe pretty effectively.

drugs....I agree with 11b on this one, what qualifies soft and hard drugs? Let people do what they will to themselves...in some ways, alcohol is just as bad as cocaine. Make the drugs expensive as hell if you want, I don't care. But as long as people aren't going out mugging/murdering/burglarizing for cash, let them do what they want.

And if they do mug/murder/burglarize... arrest them for their crime and take care of them based on that. It's not the drug's fault they're breaking the law, its their own. Maybe I'm a heartless bastard, but in my opinion, at least in the first world, people make their own destinies. If someone becomes a drug-crazed criminal, they did it to themselves. Let them suffer the consequences.

on a side note, I find it irritating when people blame their bad situations on someone/something else. Maybe if you live in a third world country, it's not your fault. But int he first world, anyone can do anything if they put their minds to it. Any excuses are just excuses.

Yea, sorry Arathorn but Im about to WTFPWN you. With this

From the year 2000
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm



Tobacco and Alcohol are in the top 3! #2 is poor diet!. The last 3 on the list pertain to drugs.

Does anyone else find it strange that the #1 and #2 killer are legal yet the 2 that are on the bottom of the list illegal? Sounds like someone wants us to die...

dont seem strange to me. it's EASY to get hold of the legal stuff (and bad diet is easy as you can go buy any food you want), whereas its hard to get the illegal stuff because you have to go find someone to sell it to you without getting caught.

Make drugs legal, more people will do them, more people will die. Make tobacco illegal, less people will get hold of them, less will die.

Gettings drugs is almost as easy as getting legal stuff. Its really not that hard to do.

How about this. How many people do you know, have known, or cases you have heard of where a drunk driver kill someone? Im betting a alot. I personally know 1 person who died, 3 that where serverly mangled and burned. And 1 who lost a brother and herself later died from complications.

How many people do I or you know that have die while driving because they where high from drugs? Me, 0.

ever lived in a major city in the US? Getting ahold of drugs is easy. Especially weed and (believe it or not) crack. I remember driving around the 'hood in Beaumont, looking for weed. There was a shortage because the major supplier for the area had been taken to jail on a warrant and the shipment for the month was locked in his car (unbeknownst to the cops).

Every person we came across...no weed, but how about some crack? Plenty of rock.

So, anyway, if you want drugs, you can get drugs. Very easily. Even easier when I was in school. There was always someone with drugs. You wouldn't believe how many people would bring party favors when you have a get together... some pills here, some weed there, some coke, some speed. Hell, it's harder to get someone to bring a bottle of liqour than it is to have em bring a bag of weed.

The whole point of that being that drugs are not that hard to get ahold of. Drugs (especially cannabinoids) are very commonly used (approaching 50% usage rates in my high school graduating class), easily available, and considerably less deadly. How many people die from alcohol-related deaths a year? Include drunk-driving in that, and the numbers are preposterous. Compare that to the number of people overdosing on something or other and alcohol certainly comes off as a horrible, evil substance.

Of course, I love alcohol, and you can't ban it. It's been tried. You can try to ban smoking, but it won't work. It'll be prohibition all over again. You can try to ban drugs....but look around. It's not working.

So, IMO, legalize the lot and take the money you were pouring into enforcement and put it into rehabilitation and outreach centers. How many government sponsored alcohol rehabilitiation programs have you heard of? None? Yea, sounds about right. Do something useful with my tax money, rather than catching a whole 1% of the annual drug intake of the US and trumpeting that as a major feat.

Better yet, funnel a bit of that cash into SpecOps forces that go into Mexico/Colombia and blast any real bastards playing in drug trafficking. If the drugs are legal, they won't make much money anyway, and some of those guys are some serious slime.

Im shocked you couldnt find weed in my community. I think your where driving around the wrong neighborhood. Ectasy for about 5 years was probably the easiest thing to get. You walk into a club, find a guy rolling his nads off, then ask him is hes got any. Bang, your in. Now, if your 18 you cant walk up to the bar tender and order beer though because your under age, but you can damn sure gets some pills.



lol so true.

hmmm, ok. The crack thing is a bad-neighborhood kind of deal, sure, but those hoods certainly exist in Dallas, Austin, Houston, Beaumont and El Paso (the only places I've lived stateside while old enough to know). Weed is everywhere. You may have to get to know people, but that's not too hard...not too long ago, I went to a party and by just hanging out got offered to smoke out. Of course, if you don't know anyone, it can be hard. My long hair probably helps, too. :p