Legalizing the world's oldest profession

In 2012, state voters decided to go where no other state ever had — they legalized adult-use marijuana, reversing 70 years of policy that by most measures was a waste of time and money.

The prohibition against marijuana consumption had virtually no effect on its price, availability or use. And yet, in that same time period, we taxpayers had to foot the bill for enforcement and incarceration.

For many — like me — the vote to legalize marijuana was not a vote to endorse its use. It was a vote to act in a pragmatic manner. Simply put, a lot of the “yes” votes came from people tired of appeasing moralists, or business interest — like private prisons — that benefited from prohibition. 

It’s time we took the same approach with prostitution.

Like marijuana, the sex business has been around for eons.

It’s called “the world’s oldest profession” for a reason, and no amount of policing or moralizing is going to change that fact. And, like the previously illegal marijuana trade, prostitution is largely a “victimless crime” in that both the seller and buyer engage in the activity willingly, and without any direct negative consequences to others.

By keeping the sex trade illegal, we fuel criminal gangs, waste our tax dollars and squander police time.

Sex workers, who are often abused and held against their will under the current status of the business deserve better.

They should be registered, licensed and allowed to work and pay taxes like the rest of society.

With legalization, pimps would largely disappear — just like street corner pot dealers have in recent years and the state would turn a fiscal negative into a positive. One more “victimless crime” would suddenly become a thing of the past, and we Washingtonians would again lead the country in how we deal with a business that might be offensive to some, but a legitimate source of employment and income to others. 

We’d need inspectors, and a licensing agency. We’d also have to insure that safe sex was practiced, and that the brothels were clean, well maintained, and away from schools and churches (just like pot shops).

And just like pot shops, the business would have to insure that only adults would be allowed to buy or sell the product.

We can do this — with cannabis we’ve proven that we can make legalization work, and we should now do the same thing with the sex trade. 

Seattle has always been a progressive city. We’ve led the rest of the US in many ways, both in business and culture. Let’s again show our fellow citizens that we are capable of dealing pragmatically with another controversial business, and that we can change course and rethink a losing strategy and work on smart solutions.

Greg James is the publisher of Marijuana Venture magazine. To send him a message, email [email protected].