I was in a relationship with an ex-prostitute.

[sibelian]

He had also been a heroin addict.

He had lots to say about heroin and very little to say about prostitution other than how often guys came to him and paid for him to just sit and listen to them talk about their lives and how awful they felt, which pissed him off.

He didn't particularly regret doing it. He was much more cut up about the heroin.

He got out of both and eventually moved to the UK and managed to get a job and a steady life. This would very probably never have happened if he had ever been arrested for heroin addiction or prostitution.

I do not know whether this can be considered "symmetrical" with the experience of women as prostitutes. I suspect not.

[randome]

1. Please. It's not prostitution when a man does it!

I'm glad he was able to straighten things out, though. Did he kick the heroin addiction on his own?

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[sibelian]

2. He had incredible luck.

He was in Australia at the time and had access to a rehab community that had a very interesting approach - they shipped you out to a self-sufficient farm in the middle of nowhere with loads of other guys with the same problem. There was no way to leave the farm without asking the staff to ship him back, which they would do if he asked, and no way to get any heroin when you were on it. No cells, no bars, no substitute medications, cold turkey. You would help on the farm when you were ready.

He says the farm was very large and peaceful and had a rough beauty, well-kept and staffed by depth psychology counsellors and ex-addicts. Their approach was "we're finishing this and you are choosing to do it". He could stay on the farm for as long as he wanted, even when he was fully off the junk. Also if he wanted to leave, he could. It was all about setting up the best possible social conditions to get him off it. He had to get away from all the little supporting habits that made it easy for him to fail. They were all about getting his mind into the state where it could re-learn how make decisions and they focussed very hard on re-training him to think of himself as someone who could make his own choices and trust his own willpower, his own integrity.

He had tried to kick it many times in the past but this time it worked. It was really, really tough on him and he described the experience as the source of his later Buddhism.

I have no idea of the name of the project. I don't know if it still exists.

[randome]

3. We need at least one of these in every state.

Raise corporate taxes by a penny to pay for it. Money well spent.

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[sibelian]

4. Seriously, dude. It would work.

But my suspicion is that they already know what works and don't want it.