Human trafficking for the sex industry is a big problem, says a report excerpted below. The problem comes courtesy of the Government, which apparently wishes to enrich organized crime.

Why does this trafficking occur to the degree being reported? The answer is because the sex industry is the subject of prohibition. Prohibition creates a niche for organized crime to fill profitably.

If we legalized and regulated the sex industry, there would be almost no place for organized crime.

Sex between consenting adults is a freedom issue, and none of any government’s business.

If money changes hands, then taxes are owed, same as how waitresses must declare tips.

Here’s one little scenario that I think shows just some of the silliness of prohibiting the sex trade. Legitimate non-sexual massage therapists provide an intimate service and take cash and pay their taxes. To receive a massage, you get naked or nearly so, and then the therapist touches and massage on almost every square inch of your body. When the massage is over, you get dressed and pay. What the hell business is it of government if the therapist massages “all” of you? If the therapist were to massage “all” of you, you might pay more and then the government would collect more taxes. Who has been harmed?

If you object on religious grounds, then do not purchase the service. But the service should be available and regulated and taxed, which would have the happy side effect of keeping out organized crime.

CNN.com - Report: Japan sex industry ensnares Latin� women - Apr 29, 2005
LIMA, Peru (AP) — At least 1,700 women from Latin America and the Caribbean are lured each year into sexual slavery in Japan’s huge illicit sex industry, according to a new report.

[snip]

Chieko Tatsumi, of the International Organized Crime Division in Japan’s Foreign Ministry, came to Lima to attend the seminar and said her government launched an aggressive public ad campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking.

“I think the Japanese people are paying more attention to these issues,” she said.

But she and other Japanese officials disagreed with the OAS report’s assertion that sexual trafficking from Latin America and the Caribbean is a much larger problem than the initial figures indicate.