Prostitution should be legalised in the US

I will be basing my argument off one from a previous debate of mine (. http://www.debate.org...) . === PRO ARGUMENTS === ECONOMIC BENEFITS: If Prostitution was legalised, the government could regulate it and tax it. It would create more revenue for the government through this. Furthermore, it would add another legal market to the economy and lead for a bigger economy for the nation which legalises it. The legalisation of Prostitution has benefited many countries which legalised it economically, and is a significant percentage of economic activity. "The prostitution industry accounts for 5% of the GDP of the Netherlands, between 1 and 3% of Japanese GDP and in 1998, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that prostitution accounted for between 2 and 14% of the total economic activity in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines" - . http://sisyphe.org... WORKER BENEFITS: The legalisation of prostitution would lead to better working conditions for prostitutes. The legalisation of prostitution has led to better health conditions in countries which legalise it, such as Senegal: "In Senegal, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has been below 1% for more than a decade. A strong multisectoral response, an effective STD control programme and early legalization of prostitution have been credited for this low level. Special clinical services, for example, offer regular examination and treatment for registered sex workers. Not only has there been a significant decline in STD rates among sex workers and pregnant women between 1991 and 1996, but genital ulcers are also no longer common and chancroid is reportedly rare. " - . http://www.liberator.net... Another example is Nevada within the U. S. Currently, only selected areas of Nevada have legalised prostitution. In this system, women are regularly checked for STD's. Women are tested for Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia weekly, and monthly for HIV and syphilis (. http://www.leg.state.nv.us...). It also worth noting there has not been a single case of a prostitute in the legalised brothels of Nevada getting AIDS, and this is since 1989. (. http://www.fff.org...) This is comparable to areas where prostitution still illegal, where "roughly half of the street prostitutes in Washington, D. C. , and New York City are HIV-positive. In Newark, New Jersey, the estimate is that close to 60% of all prostitutes carry the AIDS virus. " (. http://www.fff.org...) It is also worth noting that, as it stands, prostitutes have little legal recourse, and workers rights do no exist, which, if prostitution were legalised, would allow prostitute to get better working conditions, allow to join unions, among other things. This shows that when the sex industry is legalised and regulated, the workers within it are less prone to STD's than in the illegal sex industry. SOCIETAL BENEFITS: There is a general reduction in violence and criminal activities with the legalisation of prostitution, and a lower crime rates in accordance with the level of punishment given to prostitution. "It is unknown if there is a correlation between laws that prohibit sex and higher crime rates, but the reverse appears to be more enlightening. The countries where prostitution is legal do not suffer from a high number of violent crimes. " - . http://www.liberator.net... CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the legalisation of prostitution leads to a bigger economy. There are also benefits for workers in the form of legal recourse and significantly lower STD rates. There is also a reduced crime rate.