Am I alone in being regularly accosted by 19-year-old plus girls (or their mothers) to pay for a service which should not be relegated to being just a service but is the world's loveliest expression of intimacy? At the root of these offers I could deduce, for I did not follow through, was that what prompted the offer was the lady's desire to get money quickly to spend on cosmetics, flashy clothes, new telecom devices, pay for parties costing €80 just for the entrance ticket... or new furniture and to pay off a property loan approved by the banks but limited to a heavy repayment clause over 15 and not 20 or 25 years, and not so many for drugs.

Yes, I agree with your correspondent lawyer Dr Spiteri (TMIS, 3 September) that prostitution should not be legalised but rather that these women are helped to learn life skills. However I disagree with the MCWO position and think that it would do a world of good for women caught up in this racket to be removed from the environment in which they live with a stay at a correctional facility. Otherwise, their mothers, aunts, friends will continue to egg them on to make loads of easier money than working more than a 40-hour week- as cleaning ladies. Incidentally, though the state, through its soft approach, to caught first time drug offenders might appear as if it is being kind, in actual fact it rduces the deterrent, "u iva, l-ewwel darba ma' jaqflukx". Likewise, the debate about the possibility of legalising 'soft drugs' is sending the wrong message to the young... or is this a ploy for party clubs to start selling without being caught out as last time?

 

C. Grech