Vulnerability and involvement in drug use hors 268

This study was carried out between April 2001 and October 2002. It focused on 125 men and women who had experience of either outdoor (e.g. on the streets) or indoor (e.g. in flats and saunas) sex work. Their mean age at interview was 26.7 years with five per cent under 18. Participants reported higher levels of drug use than those interviewed for the British Crime Survey. Seventy-eight per cent of the most vulnerable sex workers had all been ëlooked afterí by their local authority. Three-quarters of these were living in, or running away from, care when they first prostituted themselves. Three factors were found to be important in trapping young people in problematic drug use and sex work. These were working in the outdoor sector, experience of hard drugs or prostitution before age 18, and experience of other risk factors at an early age, such as having been ëlooked afterí by their local authority. The separation of private and commercial sex and not having problematic drug use as a principle motivation for sex work were crucial factors for successfully leaving sex work and stopping drug use. To prevent children being abused through prostitution, it is recommended that statutory and voluntary agencies work together and focus on the early identification of young people at risk of entering prostitution. Finite police resources mean that senior officers might consider adjusting the balance between enforcement activities targeting adult sex workers and those focusing on pursuing abusers.