Substance use

If you are a sex worker, for your own safety it is important to remain vigilant and in full control of all your mental faculties.

Using substances such as alcohol, cocaine, cannabis or amphetamines, for example, can adversely affect both your awareness and your behaviour. This can place you in danger, since you will not react as you usually would and you cannot act or protect yourself if you get into difficulty.

Sex work is a tough profession. Those who do this work, need courage and a certain degree of availability.

There may be evenings when you would really rather not work, and you might be tempted to use alcohol or drugs to boost your morale.

If you take substances with other people, be careful not to share equipment such as straws, injection kits or pipes, as some viruses (for example hepatitis C, HIV and herpes) are transmitted very easily. Aspasie provides straws and injection kits free of charge, as do other organisations such as Première Ligne.

If you need support or feel your substance use has become out of control, you can turn to Aspasie for advice. You can also contact Première Ligne if you need clean equipment to use drugs (http://www.premiereligne.ch).