Conversation

Aella
@Aella_Girl
I'm watching Murder Mountain - a heartbreaking story of how law and a bunch of small marijuana farmers - "After 20 years of law enforcement attempting to wipe everybody out, it's really ironic that legalization is able to destroy what criminalization couldn't"
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Basically, the law imposed such heavy pressures that farmers who happily tried to go legal once marijuana was made legal, ended up going out of business. I can't help but viewing this as a warning parable for legalization of sex work.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Legalization of marijuana pressed out the little independent guys and placed the power in the hands of the bigger corporations who could handle all the fees and taxes, and ended up incentivizing crime and abuse for the remaining black market workers (hence name Murder Mountain)
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
If sex work is legalized in the US, will this end up punishing independent workers and putting the power in the hands of Big Brothel? Will this end up only increasing the crime and abuse for those who refuse to take on the heavy mantle of legal requirements?
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Jilcaesel
@Jilcaesel
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
You spot relevant issues, but your answers are inadequate. The solution to this problem is neither to not legalize (decriminalizing without legalizing is dangerous) nor to forego health and safety regulation. It is to make the economic rules more balanced for small competitors.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@Jilcaesel
Right now, the sex work industry seems to be pretty self-regulating? Like, the incentives are aligned - girls have the incentive to go independent (and can, thanks to internet). They have the incentive to get STD testing, to always use condoms (I know a few sex workers who are
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@MEATPANtheHOBO
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
You can legalize it and things would be fine for independents in the weed or whoring game but the corporates lobby and regulatory capture the whole thing and make independents have impossible hurdles and be forced into worse situations. classic rent-seeking corporateplutonomyshit
Matt Parrilla
@mattparrilla
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
How about: legalize, but don’t commercialize? We’ve got legal weed in VT but there is no regulated market for it. You can grow it, possess it, and gift it, but not sell it. Tons of home growers.
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Michael Bayne
@samskivert
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
Marijuana production is more like ag/food production and amenable to big business. Sex work is more like hair styling or massage. Big corps don’t really work in those industries. Sure, you have your Supercuts, but also thousands of thriving independent salons.
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