[Willwhatley]

Human trafficking is the new drugs. Apparently it's enormously more profitable to import sex workers and keep them in a kind of narcotic/whatever assisted slavery, because of the reuse of the person vs. the consuming nature of the drug.

[flipbrad]

We're getting way off topic but I'd be interested to see a source for that claim. I imagine that the costs associated with a prostitute (food, shelter) would be significantly higher than those associated with a stock of inert crystalline powder, pills, or resin. Even if nominally borne by the prostitute, those greater costs still reduce the profitability of the overall enterprise.

[noblethrasher]

I read a scholarly article on the subject that I unfortunately can't find at the moment but I recall that plausible deniability was one of the big advantages of that enterprise.